A Prince's First Love
by amantebandido
Summary: After traveling through the time tunnel, Artemis and Holly find themselves in a very different dimension in which modern day Ireland is ruled by a monarchy, with our favorite genius boy at the head of it. What is Ireland to do now?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Alright, so this is a little plot that I have had spinning in my head for some time and it was making me unable to finish my other stories. So now that I have cranked it out and actually put it down, I feel much better and hopefully can make more headway on my other stories. But I do hope that you liked this one-- this concept has always struck me as being a fun one.**

**This story takes place immediately after _The Lost Colony_. Enjoy!**

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**A Prince's First Love**

Chapter 1

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"Where are we?"

Holy and Artemis turned around in circles, trying to piece together everything that had just happened. Qweffor had just used his increased magic to return the two of them to their own dimension.

"I assume that we are back in our own time," Holly said, looking up at Artemis. The two of them looked at each other, eyes widening at the same moment.

"You have two different colored eyes," Artemis said to Holly, cocking his head to the side. One of the elf's expressive hazel eyes seemed to have been replaced with one of his own cold blue ones.

"You do too!" Holly said, pointing to Artemis. The boy mussed over this fact, a small smile creeping on his face as though he found the whole situation amusing. Holly immediately went up to him, grabbing his arms and carefully studying his fingers.

"What are you trying to do?" The boy asked, yanking away his arm. Holly started to check the boy all over.

"We obviously traded eyes," Holly said, "I just want to make sure that none of our other body parts were switched as well".

"I think I would have noticed if any other part of my body didn't belong to me," Artemis drolled, "after all, we have very different proportions. Such a change would be obvious".

"That's true," Holly said, biting her lip, noting that she once again had lost to Artemis' calculating logic.

Suddenly, a long black car with heavily tinted windows pulled up to the two of them. Artemis and Holly immediately looked up, a bit wary at the intrusion. Holly's hand immediately flew to her belt, where she usually stored her neutralizer; only to find the space empty. _The gun must have fallen off on our way here_, the elf thought ruefully, _how perfect_.

A tall man in a black suit and sunglasses stepped out of the front seat, looking visibly relieved when he laid eyes on Artemis and Holly. He immediately took his phone and made a call.

"I found both of them," the man said into the phone, "I will bring them back to the palace right now".

"Palace?" Holly whispered, confused. The man in the black suit stowed away his phone and made his way over to the pair of them.

"Your highness, you disappeared quite suddenly," the man said to Artemis. Holly looked at the boy in confusion.

"Your highness?" she whispered to him. Artemis' face betrayed no emotion, but he shrugged his shoulder fractionally as to show that he too had no idea what was going on.

"You did not inform us that you wanted to take his highness' classes outdoors today, Lady Holly" the man continued, looking down at Holly. The elf gaped at the man, not quite knowing what to say. _Classes? Lady Holly?_ What was going on here?

"It… it must have slipped my mind," Holly said. The window of the car rolled open and the driver called out to the group.

"Pardon me for interrupting, but the prince has an appointment with the reporter from Irish Times in an hour"

"Very true," the man in the suit said, bowing and pointing to the car, "if you are ready your highness…"

Artemis moved towards the car mechanically, Holly following right behind him. The boy's mind reeled, calculating the situation that they were in. Both the man in the suit and the driver had heavy Irish accents and there had been mention of the Irish Times, so it was obvious that they were now in Ireland. But what was this talk about him being a prince?

Artemis and Holly slid into the back seat of the car. The man in the black suit slid into the front seat.

"Would his highness like some silence to prepare himself for the interview?" he asked. Artemis nodded his head, his face still stoic. The man pressed a button and immediately a plate of thick, tinted glass rose from the back of the seats, creating a barrier between the front and back seats. Holly let out a sigh of relief. Now her and Artemis could talk without the other two men in the car hearing them.

"What is going on?" Holly asked as soon as the glass went up. Artemis leaned back in his seat.

"For the first time in my life, I really have no clue," Artemis answered, still deep in thought.

"What is all this talk about you being a prince?" Holly asked, "I never knew you were from royalty"

"Don't be ridiculous," Artemis answered, "Ireland hasn't been ruled by a monarch since we gained independence".

"Do you think that we accidently got off on that time then?" Holly asked, "back before Ireland independence?"

"That is an even more ridiculous thought," Artemis said to the elf, "do you really think that there were cars or cell phones back then? We are obviously in modern times"

"Can you be sure?" Holly asked. Artemis sighed and tapped on the glass. Immediately, it lowered a bit.

"Yes, your highness," the man in the suit called.

"Can you tell me what year it is?" Artemis asked. There was a few seconds of silence from the front, as though the man was wondering what was wrong with Artemis. And of course, he should wonder, it was a little absurd for a person not to know the year they were living in.

"It is 2009, your highness," the man said, "in the 88th year of the Lion Kingdom"

'_The Lion Kingdom?_" Holly whispered to Artemis, who just waved to the elf to be silent.

"Thank you," Artemis said, "that is all for now". The glass pane went up once more.

"What are they talking about?" Holly demanded, "if this is present day Ireland, then what is all of this? And what is all this business about the 88th year of the Lion Kingdom?"

"88 years ago," Artemis mussed, "is when Ireland gained its independence from the United Kingdom"

"But they didn't instate an Irish monarchy then, did they?" Holly asked. Artemis shook his head slowly.

"Not in the history that we learned," Artemis said, leaning back, "none of this makes much sense".

"Do you think someone is playing a joke on us?" Holly asked. Artemis just shrugged, something else bothering him.

"What is the matter?" Holly asked him, noting that something way wrong, "beside this whole royalty thing".

"The man said it was 2009," Artemis said, turning to Holly, "that is three years after we left".

"So we've been gone for three years?" Holly asked. Artemis nodded, his frown growing deeper.

"But the way that the man greeted us, it wasn't the greeting one would normally get if they had just been found after three years," Artemis said, "it was as though we had only been missing for a few hours at the most".

"And the man actually knew me," Holly added in, "you, Butler, and Minerva are the only three people who even know about fairies. How would he know me?"

Artemis just shook his head, sitting forward. _What was happening? _The car suddenly stopped. Holly just groaned.

"What is going on now?" she asked, exasperated. Artemis' door opened and the boy saw the driver standing there.

"We have arrived at the palace, your highness," he said. Artemis nodded, noting how annoying the 'your highness' was getting. Slowly Artemis got out of the car. He turned to see that the man in the suit had opened Holly's door. The small elf scooted out of the car and turned around gaping. Artemis followed her mismatched eyes and caught the first glimpse of what was apparently his home.

The boy, having grown up in Ireland, had seen a fair number of old, crumbling castles. And being of a wealthy and luxurious sort of circle, he had also seen countless large manors and mansions. But none of those could ready him for the sight that was the Royal palace.

Even Artemis, who was a usually stoic and reserved boy couldn't helped but feel wonder when he gazed upon the palace. It was a good 6 or 7 times larger than the Fowl Manor. Instead of the traditional cold stone of traditional castles, the walls of the palace were glistening white. There roofs were domed and decorated with gold leave and various stones, and there were wide archways and marble breezeways everywhere.

"This is the palace?" Holly wondered out loud. The man in the black suit shot her a slightly bewildered look.

"Of course," the man said, "this is the Lion Palace"

"This is your house" Holly mouthed to Artemis. The boy just looked away. As if he hadn't deducted that much for himself already.

"Your highness, if you would please," the man said, motioning to the palace. Artemis nodded and started to walk over to the door, Holly hurrying beside him. The path that led from the driveway to the palace was flanked by guards, each of who bowed to both Artemis and Holly as they passed by.

"Hey, Artemis," Holly whispered to the boy. "do you think I'm royalty too?"

"Who knows," Artemis said lightly, "for all we know you could be my wife". Holly gaped up at him.

"Stop saying such frightening things!" she whispered harshly to him. Artemis gave off a small smile.

They finally reached the door of the palace and immediately two maids scurried over and opened it. Artemis nodded towards them and entered the palace. The main room was just as extravagant and large as Artemis would have imagined it to be, with marble and gold leaf everywhere.

"This place in unbelievable," Holly said, taking everything in.

"Her royal highness the Lion Queen"

Artemis and Holly looked up as a suited man announced the entrance of a very familiar looking figure.

"Mother," Artemis said in relief as Angeline walked into the main room. She looked exactly as Artemis remembered her, except she was wearing a formal dress and there was a large crown on her head.

"There you are!" she breathed, rushing over towards them, "the reporter came earlier than expected, so you need to get ready right away." As if on cue, a woman in her twenties appeared in the doorway. Her hair was tied back in a bun and she wore a pair of thick-framed black glasses that gave her a severe look.

"Sorry for showing up earlier than scheduled," the woman said, "it is just that this is the first interview that high highness is giving and the Times wanted to make sure that nothing happened".

"Of course," Angeline said fluidly to the woman.

"The Crown Prince can take as much time as he likes to prepare," the reporter continued. Angeline turned towards Artemis.

"Would you like a few moments to prepare?" she asked. Artemis nodded his head. Holly pulled at his shirt from behind him.

"Is it alright if Holly helps," Artemis asked, hoping that his mother, like all the guards, would know Holly.

"Of course," Angeline said, waving away the comment as she turned towards the reporter, "you are acquainted with Lady Holly, I am sure. She has been the prince's tutor since he was small. She is also a bit of a court magician as well, none of her predictions have ever been false".

"I do not believe there is a person in the kingdom who had not heard of the talents of Lady Holly," the reporter said respectfully. Holly gaped at the two. Court magician and Artemis' tutor? What kind of world were they in right now?

"Come Holly," Artemis said, grabbing the elf's shoulders. Angeline saw the motion and immediately held Artemis' arm, leading him away.

"Let me show you where the interview will be held," she said, "you can prepare in there for a while"

Artemis nodded and let himself be dragged by his mother, Holly giving the pair a few steps' worth distance. It seemed as though Angeline had a few things to discuss with Artemis.

As soon as they were hearing distance away from the reporter, Angeline turned towards her son.

"Artemis," she said, whispering at him harshly, "I have forgiven you and covered up for all of your defiances in the past, but you cannot ruin this interview today. It is of the highest importance".

"Of course, mother," Artemis said. Part of him was just playing along with the woman's words, but another part of his was truly frightened by the fire in her eyes. After all, the lady standing in front of him looked exactly like his mother, and seeing her so angry made the boy feel like a toddler that had misbehaved.

"With the royal family in the state that it is right now, it is crucial that these next two months play out exactly how we planned," she said. Artemis looked at her, trying not to express all the confusion that he felt.

"Planned?" he said. Angeline sighed and turned away from him.

"I do not know what we are going to do with you, boy," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. She turned towards Holly.

"I expect you to make sure that everything goes smoothly, Lady Holly," Angeline said to her. Holly immediately nodded, though she was even more clueless than Artemis. Angeline pointed to a door near them.

"The interview will commence in there in ten minutes time. That should give both of you enough time to prepare and compose yourselves," she said, casting a reproachful look at Artemis before walking away.

Artemis grabbed Holly and pushed her into the room, following behind her and closing the door shut.

"Holly, what is the possibility that Qweffor sent us into a dimension that wasn't ours?" he asked.

"What?" Holly cried, getting over the shock of being so unceremoniously thrown into the room.

"Qweffor said that he could send us back into our dimension, but he also said that it wasn't certain. Is there any chance that we managed to accidentally fall into another dimension? In a dimension in which after independence, the irish people deiced to enact a monarchy rather than a democratic government? " he asked. Holy looked around.

"That is a possibility," she said softly.

"That is the only explanation I can come up with right now, unless in the three years we have been absent, Ireland has suddenly taken on a monarchy and decided to place my parents at the head of it," Artemis said.

"Then… what are we supposed to do?" Holly asked. Artemis shook his head.

"That I am still wondering," he said, "how could this have happened? Getting stuck in another dimension where I end up being royalty sounds like the plot from some sort of cheesy fantasy story"

"Well it seems as though the people in this dimension and our dimension are the same, right?" Holly asked, "though your mother is not a queen in our dimension, she still looks the same, right?"

"Of course," Artemis said.

"Then that must mean that Qweffor exists in this dimension as well. We just need to find him and get him to send us back to where we belong" Holly said, hopefully. Artemis just gave her a look and she right away how improbable that was. Qweffor existed outside of time, and if they managed to find him some how, he most likely wouldn't be able to send them through the dimensions again. Not to mention how dangerous it would be.

"Who knows where we would end up if we were sent again," Holly wondered out loud. She stood still for a moment before grabbing a pillow from a nearby couch and throwing it at the wall. Artemis jumped back a bit, surprised by the sudden action.

"Have you lost your mind?" he asked, looking at the elf. Holly turned towards him.

"I am frustrated," she said, "we had one chance to get back home and this happened. What can we do now? We are stuck in the godforsaken palace forever!"

"It's not too bad," Artemis mussed. Holly turned to him.

"What do you mean? How is this not that bad?"

Artemis turned to a picture on the side table that showed his mother, father, and himself, all dressed in very regal clothing.

"Those who matter most to me are here," he said, "it is not as bad as it could be".

"That is fine for you to say," she said, "you have your family and you're a prince. You got the better end of this deal. What about me? All of my friends from Haven are gone. I've even lost the job I loved and am now stuck being your tutor and some sort of court laughingstock".

"Court magician," Artemis corrected.

"Wonderful, so I am going to have people coming up to me and asking me to read their tea leaves or sheep innards now," she moped, falling down in one of the couches.

"Holly," Artemis said, "endure. I am sure there is something that can be done".

"What about the people in our dimension?" Holly asked, "will we be dead to them forever?"

"All those people are here now," Artemis said. Holly scoffed at him.

"You are taking this rather well," she sneered. Artemis sighed and sat down on a coach near Holly.

"What else can I do?" he asked. Just then the reporter came into the room. Both Artemis and Holly stood up straight, looking at her.

"I am sorry," she said, bowing immediately, "but the Queen said that it was alright for me to come to interview now".

Artemis just nodded at the woman and she immediately sat down on one of the countless couched, taking out a notebook. Suddenly a very familiar figure entered the room. Artemis' eyes lit up.

"Butler," he whispered as the large man came and stood behind the reporter. The woman looked up and was suddenly taken aback by the large man's presence.

"Oh hello," she said quickly. Butler nodded at her.

"Hello," he said, "my name in Domovoi Butler. I am in charge of all internal affairs in the Lion palace and also represent the Fowl royals in the press"

"Oh," the reporter said, looking confused.

"The Queen requested my presence to make sure that everything goes smoothly," Butler said. The reporter nodded, still clearly frightened by the giant man.

"That is very thoughtful of the Queen," she said. Artemis almost snorted. It was obvious his mother sent Butler to make sure that he didn't say anything to ruin the reputation of the family. He had only been in this world for about an hour and he already knew that.

"Shall we start?" The reporter asked. Artemis nodded.

"It is common knowledge that the Crown Prince is known to be quite the man around town. He had gained a reputation as being the premiere partier in Ireland ," the reporter said, "is there any place in particular that his highness favors above the rest when going out?"

Artemis and Holly both looked at each other in surprise._ Partier? _Did this woman have the right person in mind?

"No…no place stands out in particular," Artemis said quickly, "as long as I have people I enjoy around me, it is enough"

Butler nodded silently from his place behind the reporter.

"Very well put. And speaking of people that the Prince enjoys, is their any validity in the rumors of a relationship between his highness and the famous Irish-Brazilian actress Minerva Paradizo?" the reporter asked. Artemis' head shot up.

"Minerva," he whispered. _She was an actress?_

"The royal family informed the Times that the Crown Prince would not be answering any questions of that kind," Butler said.

"Very sorry," the reporter said quickly, "I seem to have gotten ahead of myself. On to the next question—what the prince's thoughts on the King's physical condition?"

"His condition?" Artemis asked. The reporter nodded.

"It must be difficult for his highness to have to watch his father battle such a terrible illness," she continued. Artemis felt a pit grow in his stomach. _His father was ill? How ill was he? What did he have?_

"Of course I am worried about my father's condition," Artemis said, "the whole family is. We wish every day for him to recover quickly". _How serious was his father's illness for it to be mentioned in the interview?_

The reporter turned to Holly, "It is true that your husband is the royal physician, is it not? Do you know what type of treatments he is trying on the King?"

Holly's eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open. She turned to Artemis, feeling as though she was in a daze. _Her husband?_

"The Royal family will provide you with a packet that contains all of this technical information," Butler said smoothly. The reporter nodded and turned back to Artemis, leaving Holly fretting to herself. _Her husband? She was married in this dimension? To who?_

"Now for the question that everybody in Ireland wants to know," the reporter said, smiling widely, "a gossip paper ran a story last week about the Crown Prince being engaged to a student at the Royal Arts Academy. Is this true?"

Artemis froze. His eyes moved instinctively to Butler. The large man nodded.

"That is true," he said. "The royal family will issue a formal announcement by the end of the week. The wedding is scheduled for next month and the Prince's official coronation will follow soon after. We all have faith that the Crown Prince will be able to lead Ireland and are also very grateful to him for taking the crown in light of his father's delicate state".

Artemis stared at the sofa, trying to digest everything. Holly was married, Minerva was a famous actress, he was engaged, his father was ill, and in a month he was supposed to be king of Ireland. If one thing was to be certain, it was that this dimension certainly was not eventless…

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**A/N: haha, wow, it felt good to get that plot out! It has been bothering me for weeks now. What do you think about it? Any comments are always welcome and appreciated. Gracias y besos! **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here is the new chapter. I hope that you all enjoy it!**

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**A Prince's First Love**

**Chapter 2**

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"That certainly went better than expected," Butler said as the group left the room, "the Queen will be pleased".

Artemis and Holly just walked behind the man, both of them in shock. Holly was married and Artemis was engaged—it seemed like a situation out of some sort of horrible soap opera.

"Lady Holly, you did a fine job of preparing the prince for the interview," Butler continued, turning around and looking at the two, "there wasn't any sort if incident"

Artemis just frowned, wondering what type of person he was in this dimension. From the questions that the interviewer had asked him combined with the way that everybody was treating him, it seemed as though he was some type of irresponsible playboy. Which was, of course, something that he couldn't even fathom.

"The Queen will want you to give her a full account of what happened, of course," Butler said, turning towards Artemis.

"Of course," the boy echoed, "where is mother?"

"She should be in her quarters," Butler said as he started to walk down the maze of hallways. Artemis quickly followed the man, making a mental map of the palace as he walked. Holly ambled on behind Artemis, her mind still reeling from the latest news. How could she be married? _I have always wanted to wait until at least 95 before I got married_, she thought to herself, _t__hough even the ambiguous late 80s would have been okay. But 83? I am much too young to get married._

"Here we are," Butler said, as they walked through a large glass door that led them outside. Holly looked up and gasped. In front of them was a sort of canal with a gondola waiting for them. A smiling gondolier, oar in hand, stood at the back of the small boat.

"What is this?" Holly asked, looking up at Butler.

"The Crown Prince's gondola," the large man answered without a second's hesitation, "this is the one that he always takes. Does it seem different today? Would you like for it to be polished more?"

"It looks fine," Artemis cut in, wondering why there was a gondola waiting for him, "but there is no need for us to take it—can we not just walk to mother's quarters?"

"Walk?" Butler asked, looking down at Artemis as though the boy had gone slightly insane, "you would like to walk the 100 acres to the Northern Palace?"

"Excuse me?" Holly asked, "the Northern Palace?"

"The Northern Palace," Butler repeated, much slower, as though both Artemis and Holly were first graders, "the place where the King and Queen's quarters are".

"I suppose that would be too far of a walk," Artemis said, "we shall just take the gondola".

"Of course," Butler said, waving towards the boat. Artemis climbed on, but Holly stayed where she was.

"Would you like assistance, Lady Holly?" Butler asked, looking at the tiny elf.

"I was wondering," she said slowly, "I was wondering if I could possibly meet with my husband instead?" Butler cocked his head to the side a fraction.

"The royal physician is with the King in the infirmary chambers right now," Butler said, "you know that the King's health is the main priority at this moment. If you have a message for him, I can deliver it—but I am sure he is too bust at this moment for a casual engagement. Unless you have a serious issue you would like to discuss with him".

"Oh, no, it's fine," Holly said, following Artemis into the gondola, "I will just talk to him later on, then".

"I shall tell him that you were searching for him," Butler said, nodding his head. Both Holly and Artemis got settled into the gondola and the gondolier took off, gently paddling the small boat along.

"Would the Crown Prince like his favorite song?" the man asked, looking down at Artemis.

"That would be fine," Artemis answered. The gondolier immediately launched into sweet melody, and the boy genius' eyebrows shot up. This was exactly as it was in Venice. Except in this case he was in his own house.

"I can't believe that you have to take a gondola to get to the different places in your palace," Holly whispered to Artemis, taking advantage of the gondolier's song to talk to the boy without suspicion.

"I am having trouble believing any of this," Artemis said as the gondola passed through a meticulously groomed rose garden. Various large and impressive buildings stood in the background, all part of the palace grounds. Could such a place still exist in the 20th century? It was too much to imagine that people still lived like this.

"How big is this place?" Holly groaned loudly.

"The Lion Palace is exactly 12,00 acres," the gondolier answered quickly, looking down at Holly with a large smile, "that was a test, correct?"

"Oh yes," Holly answered quickly, "That was a test. Good job. You passed" The gondolier smiled broadly to himself and continued singing once again.

"12,000 acres?" Artemis said, shaking his head, "that is almost twice the size of the whole city of Versailles and almost half the size of the whole city of Dublin"

"How can a single residence be so huge?" Holly asked, shaking her heads in wonder, "this space can't all be used for the palace"

"Another test?" the gondolier asked quickly. Artemis nodded his head.

"10,000 acres of the land is used for the Palace grounds," the young man said, "the Southernmost 2,00 acres are used for the Royal University and the two Royal Academies".

Artemis frowned a bit when he heard this. He thought back to the interview that he had just completed. The lady had said that his fiancée was a student at a Royal Academy.

"Another test," Artemis said slowly, "what are the Royal University and Academies?"

"This one is easy," the gondolier said happily, "The Royal Irish University is the most prestigious university in all of Ireland. A degree from there is worth much. Most of their students are graduates of one of the two Royal Academies—which are the two most elite secondary schools. There is the Royal Science Academy and the Royal Arts Academy. The students there are extremely privileged and usually come from the best families in Ireland".

_So I am going to be marrying some spoiled little princess_, Artemis thought ruefully, _probably a talentless heiress without any form of brains or original thought. How perfect._

"You know a lot of information for a gondolier," Artemis said, looking up at the man.

"I am the Crown Prince's personal gondolier," the man answered quickly, "it is one of my job requirements to be familiarized with the palace procedures and facts."

"I see," Artemis said, looking away, "you can continue with your singing now. Test time is over".

The man started singing and the boy genius turned towards Holly.

"What are we going to do?" Holly whispered, "the gondolier knows more about our lives here than we do!"

"We adapt," Artemis said, "we adapt and see what we can do".

Holly was about to comment back when she was suddenly interrupted by a loud and warbly voice that cut through the air. Both Artemis and her turned their heads to see where the awful sound was coming from.

A gondola came floating down the opposite side of the canal. Standing in the middle of the boat, singing on the top of her lungs was a young woman with flaming red hair that fell to her mid-back. She was wearing a school uniform that splattered with paint paired with neon colored knee socks. The boat oar was in her hand and she was rowing the gondola along a very exhausted and embarrassed looking gondolier sitting silently near her. Artemis looked closer and saw that her hands were covered in what seemed to be dried clay.

The two gondolas passed each other and the girl kept on rowing and singing in her terrible voice, not even noticing the Crown Prince and his tutor gawking at her from their gondola.

"What in the flaming world was that?" Holly asked as the other gondola went out of sight. Artemis' gondolier gave the elf a rather embarrassed smile and continued to row. The group sat in silence for another twenty minutes before the gondolier finally spoke again.

"We are reaching the Northern Palace on the right," the man said lightly. Both Holly and Artemis looked out of the boat and gasped. The Northern Palace was, in many ways, even grander than the main building. This palace was smaller, but the architecture was even more complicated and breathtaking. The walls of the building were snow white, with large picture windows covering a majority of the walls. The most striking feature of the palace, however was that it was built in the middle of a lake and looked as though it was rising out of the water.

The Northern Palace seemed to be sparkling in the bright sunlight, but as the gondola approached closer, Artemis could see that the sparkling was not caused by the sun but by the countless gleaming stones that framed the windows.

"Are those…" the boy started, staring at the stones.

"Diamonds," The gondolier answered, "imported Russian diamonds—the rarest kind"

"How rich is the Irish Royal family?" Holly whispered to Artemis, who shrugged. By the display that he had seen, it seemed as though his new family had quite the amount of wealth to spare.

"It is the most beautiful building in all of Ireland," the gondolier sighed, looking out at the Northern Palace, "you must be excited to be living here soon, Crown Prince".

"Me?" Artemis asked, looking out at the decadent palace.

"Yes," the man answered, "once you wed Crown Princess Alicia and go through the coronation, the Northern Palace will be yours".

_Alicia_, Artemis thought to himself as the gondola pulled into a stop. So that was the name of his mysterious spoiled princess fiancée. It was a rather normal name for the picture of the jaded, high-class girl that he had painted in his head.

Artemis and Holly exited the gondola and immediately a pair of men in suits came up to them.

"Her highness is waiting for you in the drawing room," one of the men said, "we shall escort you there now if you wish".

"Please," Artemis answered. That was one good thing about the palace. They were escorted everywhere, so the lack of knowledge that Holly and him had of the palace grounds was not so obvious.

The inside of the Northern Palace was just as grand as the outside, with marble and stone inlays everywhere. Artemis walked along the halls, not believing that such a place could actually be a home—and soon to be his home at that. There wasn't much that the boy genius wasn't able to wrap his head around, but such a great display of wealth was one of them. He knew that royal families were always known for their extravagance, but he couldn't imagine how the Irish royal family managed to accumulate such wealth, especially in the modern day. It wasn't as though they could excessively tax all the Irish citizens or take all of the nation's resources.

"The Crown Prince and Lady Holly," the main in the suit said, formally announcing the arrival of the two as they stepped into what seemed to be the drawing room. It was a large circular room with heavy velvet drapes covering the white marble walls. The floor was inlayed with gold and various gems, and Holly was almost afraid to walk on it, it seemed too delicate.

Sitting in the middle of the room, on a small plush sofa was Angeline Fowl. She had changed into another dress and her crown lay on the table beside the couch.

"Ah, Arty, come here," she said, pointing to a couch right next to her. Artemis and Holly obediently went over and sat down, waiting further instructions.

"So tell me," she said, "what did Butler say of the interview?"

"He said that it went better than expected and that you would be pleased," Artemis answered. Angeline's face broke out into a wide grin.

"Really? That is wonderful," she beamed, "it seems as though you truly are learning to be more responsible now that your wedding date is getting closer".

"About that," Artemis started, but was cut off by Angeline raising a single hand.

"We have discussed this many times before," she said, the happiness slowly leaving her voice, "I know that you disapprove of this arrangement, but it is what your father wants"

"Don't you think I am a little young to get married?" Artemis asked, a bit relieved that at least he had enough sense in this dimension to be opposed to his betrothal.

"18 is the common age for a Crown Prince to wed," Angeline said, "besides we finally got Lady Alicia to agree to this marriage, and that was always our biggest hurdle".

"Biggest hurdle?" Artemis scoffed, "what kind of girl wouldn't like to be a Queen and inherit this palace?"

"Everybody in the royal court knows how much Lady Alicia is against this marriage," Angeline sighed, "but even she finally agreed. Can you not give it a try?"

"I want to meet her," Artemis said. Angeline quickly looked up at him.

"Meet her?" she asked, "but I thought you said last time that you never wanted to see her again."

"And I thought you said that you wanted me to give this a try," Artemis countered. Angeline nodded her head a bit.

"Fine," she said, "you can meet her".

"Today" Artemis added in, looking at his mother, eyebrows raised.

"Whatever it takes for you to feel better about this situation," Angeline said, sounding a bit defeated, "I asked her to stay at the palace until the wedding to undergo training, anyway, so it will not be hard to arrange a meeting between the two of you".

The queen got up off of the couch and started to walk out of the room.

"Lady Alicia should be near the Eastern palace," the lady said, "Take Lady Holly and go meet her".

"Of course," Holly said, getting up, "you highness" she added in. Holly still didn't quite understand everything that was going on, but she decided to take Artemis' words to heart and just endure everything for the time being.

The two started to walk out of the room. Angeline grabbed Holly's shoulders and held her back. The small elf stumbled a bit, looking up at the woman.

"Lady Holly, I am counting on you to not let Artemis ruin this meeting," she whispered. Holly just nodded her head, numbly.

"Artemis… the Crown Prince…doesn't seem like the type of person who would purposefully ruin a meeting," Holly answered. Angeline just looked down at her in shock.

"Are you speaking of our Artemis?' she asked, "The Crown Prince Artemis Fowl? He doesn't seem like the type of person who would ruin a meeting?"

"Well sure he is a little awkward around girls…" Holly started. Angeline just exhaled deeply, taking a magazine off of one of the nearby tables and shoving it into Holly's hands with so much force that the elf stumbled back slightly.

"As optimistic as you would like to remain with your thoughts of Artemis, this is the truth," Angeline said, nodding towards the magazine, "I know that we all love the boy, but this marriage is crucial. If he ruins this, then the future of the kingdom will be very unsure".

"Of course," Holly said quickly, nodding her head at the distraught woman and making her way out of the room, quickly. Once outside, Holly looked at the magazine in her hands and gasped.

On the cover of the magazine was a shot of Artemis—but a very different Artemis from the one that she knew. The boy in the picture had perfectly mussed black hair that fell over a smug and handsome face. He was wearing a suit that was tailored to fit his body perfectly and a very arrogant smile on his face. Both of his arms were strung around the shoulders of two very pretty looking girls and the caption above him read '_The Crown Prince's Wild Night Out'_

"Wild night out?" Holly whispered, tears of suppressed mirth threatening to fall from her mismatched eyes. Artemis Fowl's definition of a wild night out was sitting in front of his computer deciphering gnomish poems till the early wakes of the morning.

"Holly, what are you doing over there? Hurry up," Artemis called. Holly looked up quickly and hurried after the boy. The two stepped out of the palace to find Butler waiting for them.

"What?" Artemis asked, looking at the man, "how did you get here so quickly? We just arrived ten minutes ago".

"I took the helicopter," Butler answered simply. Holly gaped up at him.

"What? There is a helicopter this whole time and you made us take gondolas?" she asked. Butler just looked down at the elf, confused.

"But the gondolas are a essential part of the palace system. Lady Holly always said that she found riding in them very soothing," he answered, "and besides, it is a known rule that the Crown Prince cannot ride in the helicopter. It is too dangerous for him".

"Fine," Holly said, dropping the argument. It seemed as though the palace had way too many rules for her to worry about them, "what exactly was the reason that you decided to helicopter over here?"

"I just came from the infirmary chambers," Butler said, "The King has finished his treatment for the day, so the Royal Physician said that he can meet with you now, Lady Holly".

"Really?" Holly asked, perking up. Was she finally going to get to meet her mysterious husband? She turned to Artemis in excitement and then frowned, remembering that she had just been given a job to do.

"But I am supposed to escort Artemis to see his fiancée," Holly muttered.

"Then I shall tell your husband that you are bust and will meet later," Butler said formally. Holly shook her head vigorously.

"Butler, you take Artemis," she said, motioning for the large man to get into the gondola, which was already waiting to whisk Artemis away to the Eastern Palace.

"Me?" Butler asked in shock, "but I just deal with house matters. I was not trained to help the Crown Prince with communication or…"

"Ah, it's not that hard," Holly said, "just answer all his questions and he'll be fine".

"Answer his questions?" Butler asked. Holy looked over at the genius boy who was already sitting in his gondola. A wicked smile crossed her face. She was stuck in this world, so she might as well have a little fun with it.

"Though the Prince has been living in the palace his whole life, he is still confused as to what thing are, what that they are used for, and the structure of everything," she said.

"Really?" Butler asked.

"Have you not noticed that he has been asking the most obvious questions?" the elf continued. Butler nodded his head.

"I suppose you are right," the large man said.

"It's not his fault," Holly continued, looking back at the boy," he's… he's just a bit slow. Always has been."

"He did fail the entrance exam to the Royal University three times," Butler mussed. Holly tried her best to suppress her laughter. So not only was Artemis a playboy in this dimension, he was also apparently a moron that had to try three times to get accepted into a school that his parents owned.

"So you just make sure that he doesn't say anything stupid. You're a big man, you can handle it," Holly said, punching the large man. Butler looked down at her in shock.

"Lady Holly, are you feeling alright? You are not acting how you are supposed to" he asked.

"I'm fine," Holly answered, making her way over to the gondola next to Artemis'. The small elf shook her head—if the Artemis in this dimension had acted so much differently than what he was, she didn't even want to know the Holly that lived in this dimension acted.

"Take me to the medical chambers, please," Holly called out to her gondolier.

"Of course," the man said, dipping the oars in the water. They started to pull ahead and Holly cast a glance at Artemis.

"Artemis" she called out. The boy looked up from his boat.

"I'll expect to hear all about your meeting after it's done," she said. Artemis just nodded his head, turning back to look at the scenery around him. He didn't know quite what to think of this whole situation. He had just landed in this dimension and in less than two hours had found out that he was not only supposed to be king but that he also had a fiancée.

_This is not the world I am used to_, Artemis thought looking back at the gondola. Butler was sitting on the other side, looking extremely nervous and jumpy. The boy sighed, even Butler wasn't the same as he was back in their dimension.

"Where are we going?" Artemis asked lazily. Butler sprung up to attention.

"We are going to the Eastern Palace, Crown Prince," the man said, "the quarters of the soon to be Crown Princess Alicia".

"She gets her own quarters?" Artemis huffed, _spoiled little girl. Probably demanded a whole palace for herself._

"Well she has to go through training to become a proper member of the royal family, so the queen requested that she stay on the palace grounds, were we could keep an eye on her," Butler answered, mumbling slightly. Artemis suppressed a sigh, he didn't think he would veer get used to the bumbling Butler that was in front of him.

"Keep an eye on her?' Artemis asked. Butler nodded.

"So that she won't try to escape again," Butler said. As soon as the words left him, his eyes grew wide and he clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Oh forgive me, your highness," he said quickly, "I shouldn't have spoken so rashly about your fiancée".

"I don't care about her," Artemis said. They rode in silence for a good thirty minutes before finally arriving at their destination. The Eastern Palace was smaller than the rest of the palaces, but even still it was roughly the size of the old Fowl manor that Artemis remembered.

"Alright, your highness, let us go," Butler said as the gondola came to a compete stop. Artemis got out of the boat and followed Butler into the building and through the hallways. The inside was grand, as one would expect from any of the palaces, and it seemed as though every wall and every nook held some sort of priceless treasure. Artemis, who always prided himself on his fine taste in art, examined each of the pieces as they walked by.

As they neared the crown princess' room, Artemis' eyes strayed on a piece that he quite didn't recognize. It was a ceramic work, displayed proudly on a pedestal with perfect backlight. It was a small bowl, glazed in a powerful, almost hypnotic blue color and painted in a way that made it seem like the bowl was actually made out of rolling sea waves.

"I have never heard of that piece before," Artemis said, looking at the bowl. Butler's eyes scanned over it.

"It is nice, isn't it? Won first place at some pottery festival last year, I think" he said quickly, leading Artemis away from the artwork and into the room at the end of the hallway.

Artemis stepped into the room and was suddenly hit with the overwhelming smell of food cooking.

"Hello?" Artemis called out, looking around the room. It seemed like a normal sitting area, with couches, bookshelves, and side tables everywhere.

"The pot," a female voice called out from the next room. Artemis stood where he was in confusion.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"The pot," the voice repeated, "there is a pot in the fireplace. Can you take it off and put it on the table for me?"

Artemis looked over at the fireplace and saw that, sure enough, there was a pot suspended by two metal rods in it. The boy looked up at Butler, who looked back down at him in confusion.

"Aren't you going to take the pot off?" Artemis asked. The large man's eyes went wide.

"Oh, well, I am a bit afraid of fire," he said sheepishly.

"Then do you want my hands to get burned taking it out?" Artemis demanded.

"Ugh, you can never count on men to do simple things can you?"

Artemis turned around and saw, to his shock, the crazy girl from the gondola walking into the room. She had traded in her paint splattered school uniform and neon knee socks for a yellow bathrobe, and her bright red hair was tied back. She quickly walked over to the fireplace, grabbed two cooling pads from on the mantle place and gently lifted the pot from the fire. She set it on the coffee table, smiling widely.

She then put the cooling pads back on the mantle and got out a few wooden spoons from a desk drawer. She lifted the lid off of the pot, causing the room to filled even more with the smell of home cooking.

"Would you two like some?" the girl asked, looking up at them. Artemis just looked at her in utter confusion while Butler shuffled nervously in his place. The girl just shrugged, took one of the spoons and dug into the food that was in the pot, smiling happily.

"What are you doing?" Artemis finally asked after a few moments of silence. The girl looked up at him, cheeks full of food.

"I can't stand the food in the palace," she grumbled, "so I decided to cook up some traditional Irish stew. Are you sure that neither of you want some? I am a pretty good cook—I worked at my parents' restaurant before coming here"

"I… of course I don't want any of that substance," Artemis said, starting to get annoyed. _Who was this girl and why was she popping up in the weirdest situations? Was she one of Alicia's maids?_ For some reason, Artemis couldn't see the spoiled princess Alicia he had create din his mind having such an oddball maid.

"I came here to talk to my fiancée," Artemis said, "so if you would please mind your place and call her for us, that would be appreciated".

Butler's nervous shuffling got worse and the girl just scoffed at the two of them and continued to eat like a wild woman.

Artemis exhaled deeply, wondering how to deal with the person in front of him.

"Could you please stop eating for one moment to get Lady Alicia for me?" Artemis said, trying one more time. This time the girl put down her spoon and stared up at him.

"Hey Crown Prince," she cried, uttering the words 'crown prince' as though they were an insult, "I know that we don't like each other at all, but isn't this a little childish? If you are trying to make me upset, then this is a bit of a pathetic attempt".

"What?" Artemis asked, turning towards Butler. Who was this girl that could speak so casually to him? Even though he had only been in this dimension for less than three hours, Artemis had already gotten so use to the formality that everybody showed him that this girl's lack of care was quite off-putting.

"Please forgive him, Lady Alicia," Butler said quickly to the girl, "he must be on one of his moods again".

Artemis turned back around to the girl, who had just shrugged and gone back to her food. This was Alicia? The crazy girl who sang on gondolas with paint stained uniforms and cooked traditional Irish stew in her marble and gold leafed fireplace? This girl was going to be the new Queen of Ireland? The girl who was now looking up at him, her wide brown eyes sparkling mischievously and her mouth stuffed to the brim with food. This girl was going to be Artemis' new wife?

"Well this is not how I expected it to be," Artemis breathed, slumping down into one of the many couches that Alicia had scattered around the room. This was most certainly going to be interesting.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, how was it? I know Alicia's character might seem a bit shallow right now, but worry not, she will be expanded on in the coming chapters. **

**Also in the next chapter, Holly's husband will be reviled, so you won't have to be in suspense much longer. Anyways, I really appreciate any comments, critiques, whatever you have to say. I always have a lot of joy in writing, so I hope that you also have a lot of joy reading. **

**Until next time. Gracias y besos!! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, here is the next chapter. Sorry for the long wait, I just took a little break for a while after finishing my last story. But I am back on my regular writing schedule now, so I will be updating more frequently. Hope you enjoy! This chapter was fun to write. As for Holly's husband, most of you guessed who it was. What can I say, I am a total sucker for that pair. Oh well. Hope you enjoy! **

* * *

**A Prince's First Love**

Chapter 3

* * *

After a good half an hour, Holly's gondola stopped in font of the main palace. The small elf got out of the boat, slickly sick to her stomach. She never ridden in boats much, they were virtually unheard of in Haven, and she had rather quickly found out that she was quite given to motion sickness.

"I think I am going to try to avoid the gondolas as much as possible," Holly whispered to herself, glad that her feet were once again firmly planted on land. Flying she had no problem with, it was just the constant rocking of the boats that got to her.

"Lady Holly, would you like for me to accompany you to see the infirmary cambers or would you prefer to go yourself".

Holly looked up to see another man in a suit bowing to her.

_This palace has too many workers_, Holly though to herself before turning towards the man, "You may escort me".

"Of course," the man said. He made a sharp turn and started to walk into the palace. Holly quickly followed him, not wanting to get lost in the maze of hallways.

"So what type of person in my husband?" Holly asked the man as they walked.

"Pardon me?" the man asked, sounding confused.

"I was just wondering what everybody thought if him," Holly said, "being married to him makes me biased, of course. I was just wondering if everybody else liked him".

"The royal physician is a very noble person," the man said stiffly, "his care for the King and the royal family is always very detailed and complete".

Holly sighed to herself. From what it sounded like, her husband was a bit of a stiff. But then again, from the way people were treating her, it seemed as though she had been a bit of a stiff as well.

"Here we are, Lady Holly," the man said after another ten minutes of walking in silence. Holly looked up and saw that they had stopped in front of a pair of large, heavy wooden doors. The doors were inlayed with beautiful and intricate designs.

"I shall take my leave now," the man said, bowing, Holly waved him away. She was too nervous to be concerned with proper etiquette now. Behind those doors was the person that she was supposedly married to. And if Artemis was right and there was no way to get back to their own dimension, she could potentially be married to this person for the rest of her life.

"Buck up, Holly," she whispered to herself before grabbing hold of the doorknobs. Slowly she turned the knobs and opened the door. A strong smell of medicine hit her nose and she cringed a bit. Holly had never been a fan of medicine or hospitals.

_What an ominous sign_, she though to herself before walking inside the room and closing the door behind her.

"Ah, Holly. Butler told me that you had something to speak to me about".

Taking a deep breath, Holly turned towards the voice, eyes closed shut. The voice sounded familiar, and that scared the elf a bit. _What if it's Root_, Holly thought desperately, _if it's him I am going to kill myself. Even if his personality is completely different, please don't let me be married to Root._

"Holly, is there a reason that you are closing your eyes? Is the light in the room too bright for you? I can ask someone to dim them".

Sighing, Holly slowly opened her eyes a fraction. She looked at the source of the voice, which was coming from a person sitting behind a desk at the other side of the room. She saw who it was and gave of a very audible sigh of relief, sinking against the wall that she was standing by.

From the desk, Dr. Trouble Kelp stood up in shock.

"Are you okay?" he asked, "are you falling ill?"

"I'm fine," Holly said, getting up. If there was anybody out there that she would be okay with marrying, it would be Trouble. After all, he had always been one of her closest friends, plus he wasn't Root. _Oh, thank god it wasn't Root._

"I'm fine," Holly answered faintly.

"You just collapsed against the wall," Trouble said warily, "are you sure you are fine?"

"It's just been a long day," Holly said. Trouble nodded stiffly.

"You've been working hard," he said formally. Holly shrugged.

"The work isn't actually that hard," Holly answered, "in fact, with everybody thinking that Artemis is a moron, all I have to do is make him stand upright properly and they all think that I've done my job properly".

Trouble looked at Holly, eyebrows raised.

"Are you sure you are okay?" he asked once again. Holly stood up.

"Of course," she said, "why?

"You are not acting the way that you usually do," Trouble said cautiously. Holly sighed to herself. It seemed as though her previous thoughts had been correct. In this world, she used to be some type of prissy and uptight woman.

_I can't pull that off_, Holly thought to herself, _I love being outdoors, going on missions…breaking rules. I can't just suddenly be expected to stay indoors and tutor Artemis all day._

"I think I'm just tired," Holy answered. Trouble nodded his head, though he frowned slightly to himself. There was something a little off with his wife.

"You said you had something to talk to me about?" Trouble asked, "is it about the history book?"

"What?" Holly asked, looking up, "the history book?"

"Yes, the rare edition of the history book that my brother had," Trouble said, getting a book out of the drawer, "you asked to borrow it from him to help the prince with his lessons".

"Oh yes," Holly said, quickly going up to him, "is that it?"

"Grub said that he wanted it back once you were done," Trouble said, handing the book over to Holly, "as you know, copies of this are quite rare".

"Of course I know," Holly lied, taking the book from Trouble. She looked at the title. A Complete History of the Lion Kingdom. _Well this is strangely convenient_, she thought happily, _all we need to do now is read this and we'll know about this world_.

"Thanks," Holly said, looking up at Trouble, "this is going to be a great help".

"It was no problem," Trouble said, looking slightly nervous, "listen, Holly…"

"Yes?" Holly asked, looking up at him, wondering why he looked so jumpy.

"I hope you are not acting this way because you overheard me," Trouble whispered cautiously. Holly raised her eyebrows.

"When I was talking to Foaly about how you have changed since coming to the palace," Trouble continued nervously, "it wasn't that I did not like the change, in fact I…."

"Wait, Foaly?" Holly asked, excitedly. Trouble cocked his head to the side.

"Yes, Foaly," he said, "the one who is the head of all the palace technology".

Holly looked down at the ground, a smile forming on her lips. Foaly was here in the palace. If there was anybody who could possibly to take Artemis and her back to their dimension, it was Foaly.

"I have to go talk to Artemis," Holly said quickly. Trouble looked at her, a bit taken aback.

"So you are not upset by what I said?" Trouble asked.

"It doesn't matter," Holly said, brushing away the elf's words. Especially if Foaly could work his magic. Being married to Trouble wasn't the worst thing in the world, but truthfully Holly would prefer her old world filled with flying, stakeouts, and having Trouble simply being her best friend.

"Oh, okay," Trouble said.

"I'll be going now," Holly said, "thanks for the book".

"Alright, I will see you tonight then," Trouble said as Holly left the room. The elf sighed and slid back down into his seat. Holly was acting exactly the way she had when they had first gotten married, and while Trouble actually preferred his wife this way there was still something quite strange about her actions.

Holly made her way down the maze of hallways, mind furiously churning. Hopefully Foaly was as smart in this world as he was in her own.

* * *

On the other side of the palace, Artemis' mind was churning quite a bit as well. The girl sitting on the floor in front of him was different from any other person he had ever encountered before. On the outside she was rather cute, with her waterfall of red curls and large, innocent brown eyes. But when she opened her mouth, her cute image was replaced by a much stranger one.

"So, is there a reason why the crown prince would honor me with such a visit?" Alicia finally asked, looking up from her pot of stew, which she had nearly emptied in the past ten minutes.

"I simply wanted to talk before our upcoming nuptials," Artemis said. The small girl frowned at the boy's words.

"Have you been reading a thesaurus or something lately?" she asked.

"I really fail to see what part of my statement was thesaurus-worthy" Artemis drolled, looking down at her. Alicia shrugged her slight shoulders.

"Well the word 'nuptials' is pretty big for a person who ritually misspells his name," she said, raising both eyebrows.

"You can stop telling lies," Artemis sighed.

"It's not a lie," Alicia countered, "we did go to the same school, in case you forgot".

"How is that possible?" Artemis said. Alicia let off a groan.

"You are only a year older than me. We went to the Arts Academy together. We were even in the same intro to Visual Arts class... it was you're second time taking that class, I believe" she said, leaning back against the table.

_How stupid am I in this world_, Artemis thought to himself, suppressing a groan. Was it even possible to fail such a beginning level class?

"Even so," Artemis said, "we are to be married soon, so don't you think you should speak a little nicer to me?"

Alicia suddenly broke off into a fit of very vivacious laughter. She doubled over and fell to the side, laughter racking her body. Artemis sat where we was, a bit taken aback.

"Nicer?" Alicia asked finally once her insane laughter stopped, "that was supposed to be a joke, right?"

"Of course it wasn't," Artemis asked, "I don't understand why you felt the need to laugh like a madwoman."

"That's just my normal laugh," Alicia huffed, "though I don't really see how you could have said that with a straight face".

"That I wanted you to speak nicer to me? I don't see what is odd about that statement". Artemis said, becoming increasingly confused with the whole situation. He looked up at Butler, but the large man was just looking at his feet, nervously.

"Do you not remember what you said to me last week when I came here?" Alicia asked, leaning forward a little.

"Truthfully, no I don't," Artemis answered, bluntly. He expected Alicia to get livid. He didn't know much about women, but he knew enough to know that forgetting about conversations usually made women upset. But surprisingly, Alicia just nodded her head.

"As expected of someone like you," she sighed, "I guess I should help you remember, then". Slowly she stood up and turned around, tucking her hair back into a high bun and putting an arrogant expression on her face. She walked over to Artemis in wide strides.

"Look here, girl," she said, deepening her voice. She moved right in front of Artemis and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him so that he was scant inches from her face.

"I know that I am the charismatic and handsome prince that everybody is fighting to be with." she continued, "I also know that a pauper like you is probably super thrilled about getting the chance to marry me. But let me tell you. I can't stand girls like you, and I am only marrying you because I don't have any other option left and my mum won't get off my back. So this marriage will mean nothing. Once it's done, be sure to stay out of my life from that point on."

And with that, she released her grip on his shirt and stood back. Her face then broke out into a wide smile.

"How was that?" she asked eagerly "I've always been number 1 at impressions".

"Did I really say that to you?" Artemis asked. Alicia just nodded her head, unpinning her hair.

"You most certainly did," she said, "you can even ask Butler, he was there". Artemis once again turned to the large man, who looked even more nervous.

"If I really did say that, then why do you look so cheerful about this whole thing?" Artemis continued. Alicia just shrugged.

"That way works fine for me as well," she said, "it's not as though I was looking for a happy married life with you, anyway. It will probably be for the best if we just stay out of each others way once we get married".

"Do you really dislike me that much?" Artemis asked, leaning forward. Alicia turned towards him, a grin on her face.

"No I don't, Crown Prince," she said slowly, "because to dislike you means that I would have to actually have to feel any sort of emotion towards you, and that requires more effort than I am willing to put into this relationship".

Artemis was a bit taken aback by the girl's words. He knew that they weren't aimed at him, but rather the person that he used to be in the world. He also knew that he should care a bit about whether or not the eccentric girl in front of him disliked him. But still, the blunt nature of the girl's words was too much like his own. It put him slightly off guard.

Suddenly, a man in a suit entered the room.

"I am very sorry to interrupt, but Lady Holly is outside and would like to speak to the Crown Prince," he said. Artemis winced a little. After this talk with Alicia, the words 'Crown Prince' sounded like an insult, no matter who said them.

"You better go, If Lady Holly is calling you," Butler said softly, "she must have something important to discuss with you". Artemis nodded his head. He knew that Butler was just trying to escape the tense atmosphere that had enveloped the room. And truthfully, Artemis wasn't all to eager to continue to stay around Alicia at this time either.

"I will taking my leave, then" Artemis said, standing up. Alicia stayed seated on the floor and nodded her head.

"Until we run into each other again, Crown Prince," she said, smiling. Artemis shook his head. He didn't quite understand how the girl could still smile after everything that had happened. Maybe she really didn't have any emotions.

Without another word, Artemis left the room and his odd fiancée behind. He walked down the hallway, his eyes once again catching the captivating piece of pottery that he had seen on the way to Alicia's room. The boy turned towards Butler.

"Take this piece and move it over to my quarters," he said, pointing to the bowl, "Such a work belongs with someone who will appreciate it, not with some strange, emotionless girl".

"Of course, your highness" Butler said quickly, motioning for one of the suited men present to move the bowl. Artemis nodded his head. He didn't know quite why, but by moving the bowl he felt as though he had won some small victory over Alicia.

Silently the boy made his way outside, to find Holly waiting for him, looking a little green in the face.

"I don't understand why they won't let me ride the helicopter here," Holly said, glaring at Butler as he walked out behind Artemis, "the gondolas are making me sick".

"But Lady Holly always…"

"I know I always enjoyed the gondolas," Holly said, interrupting Butler. It seemed as though she used to enjoy many things that she didn't quite now.

"Did you visit your husband?" Artemis asked, looking down at the elf. Holly nodded her head.

"Yes," she said, "and Trouble gave me a couple pieces of useful information".

"Trouble Kelp?" Artemis asked. Holy nodded her head. The boy mused over the thought for a few seconds.

"Better than Root or Mulch, I suppose," he said finally. Holly blanched. She hadn't even thought of the possibility of her husband being Mulch.

"Are you trying to make me throw up by putting disgusting thoughts in my head?" she whispered furiously at him, "I am already queasy from the boat ride over here".

"My apologies," Artemis said, "but what is the information that Trouble gave you?"

"Well the first is this," Holy said, thrusting A Complete History of the Lion Kingdom into his hands. Artemis looked at the book and smiled slightly. That was highly useful.

"And the second thing," Holly said, smiling widely, "well I think I jut might have found a person that can get us out of this dimension".

* * *

**A/N: Okay, how was that? I am really enjoying writing this story, and hopefully you are enjoying reading it as well. As always, I appreciate any comments, concerns, thoughts-- anything that you have to say about the story. Gracias y besos!! **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay all-- here is the next chapter. This one is long and a bit technical, but I did have to get all the technicalities explained sometime. So if this chapter seems a bit dull, I apologize. It will be more lively and all the characters will be much more developed in the future chapters. Hope you do enjoy this one, though!**

* * *

**A Prince's First Love**

**Chapter 4**

* * *

**  
**

"So Foaly is here in the palace?" Artemis asked as he and Holly rowed down the canal once more.

"He is in charge of technology here," Holly answered, nodding her head, "if anybody would be able to get us out of this dimension, it would be him".

"Then at least we have somewhat of a hope of getting out of here," Artemis mussed slightly, turning his head away from Holly. The small elf looked up at the boy with a knowing smile.

"Was she really that bad?" Holly asked, eyebrows raised.

"She was different," Artemis answered after a few moments of thought.

"Not a spoiled princess then" Holly asked. Artemis shook his head. No, Alicia wasn't a spoiled princess, but truthfully, even that seemed a bit better than the odd personality that she did possess.

"So, would you like to do your duties as a tutor and read me a few passages of that," Artemis asked, pointing to the _The Complete History of the Lion Kingdom_. He wanted to get off the topic of his fiancée as soon as he could. Holly nodded and picked it up. The thought of reading while riding on a rocking boat was a little sickening, but the small elf was as curious as Artemis to find out more about the dimension that they had been tossed into.

Holly flipped through the book, looking casually at the pages. She stopped for a second, her eyes straying on a single page.

"Ever since the institution of the Lion Kingdom, fairies and humans have been living in complete harmony in Ireland," she read a loud. Artemis' gondolier nodded his head proudly.

"Ireland is still the only country that fairies and humans have such a harmonious relationship," the boy said, smiling. Artemis sat back on his gondola. He had been wondering why it was possible for Holly, Trouble, and Foaly to be out in the open. So that was one thing that was better in this dimension. Fairies didn't have to live underground anymore.

"Ah, so we get fresh air all the time," Holly whispered, thinking the same thing. She continued to flip through the book, a smile on her face. Humans and fairies working together. It was odd, but it wasn't a bad thing at all.

"Ah, here we go, a chapter that will interest you," she said as she turned the page. Artemis turned to her, one eyebrow raised.

"The education system of Ireland," she continued. Artemis nodded his head.

"I don't see how our education system will be so different," he whispered. Holly read over the pages silently at first, a curious expression on her face.

"I am very thankful that I didn't go to school under these conditions," she finally whispered to Artemis. The boy cocked his head.

"Why, what is the education system here like?" he asked. Holly flipped back to the first page of the chapter and started to read.

"Ireland is known throughout the globe as having the most competitive yet renowned education system," Holly read aloud, "since the institution of the Lion Kingdom, education has always remained the top priority".

"What makes this system so different from all others?" Artemis asked.

"The first round of tests for children start when they are three years old," Holly read, shaking her head, "the scores on that test determine what kindergartens that the children will attend. The top 5% of students in the nation are allowed admission to the private kindergarten located in Dublin. The next stage of tests happen when the children are 5, and those determine what primary school they will attend".

"There are other nations out there with similar policies," Artemis said, shrugging his shoulders. Holly shook her head. The boy was a genius and always had been. There is no way that he could see how hard this type of schooling system would be on average kids.

"There are also tests for junior high school, senior high school, and university," Holly said, "for senior high school, the two royal academies only offer admission to the top 2% of students."

"That's just the academic admissions," Artemis' gondolier piped in. Both Holly and Artemis tuned their heads towards him.

"Well, the schools also accept children of rich families who are able to pay the full tuition," the gondolier said quickly, "and of course, there are those students who get accepted on skill, such as the Crown Princess".

"Alicia?" Artemis asked. The gondolier nodded his head and continued to speak. Artemis frowned a bit, blocking out the boy's incessant chattering. So his fiancée had gotten into the Arts Academy based on skill? Is that what her odd behavior was, the stereotypical artists' temperament?

"…it is breathtaking, really," the gondolier kept saying. Artemis looked up.

"What is?" he asked. Holly shook her head. It seemed as though Artemis had drawn himself back into his own little genius world as he so often did. Some things didn't change no matter what dimension they were in.

"Alicia's work," Holly answered quickly, "she is supposedly very talented".

"Well I guess she has to have one redeeming quality," Artemis grumbled. Holly smiled a bit. It seemed that whoever this girl was had managed to shake Artemis to his core, something that not very many people had the ability to do.

"Tell me more about her," Holy said to the gondolier, "the crown princess".

"Why do you want to talk about her?" Artemis asked quickly. The gondolier looked down at Artemis nervously.

"Ah, don't listen to him" Holly said the boy, waving at Artemis dismissively, "you know he is always like this". The gondolier still looked a bit nervous.

"I know that the Crown Prince gets angry when the topic of the Crown Princess is brought up," the boy said. Artemis nodded his head—finally one similarity between him and whoever he used to be in this dimension.

"That is just because he doesn't know Alicia well," Holly said, "maybe if you tell us more about her then Artemis was warm up the idea of marrying her". Artemis just leaned back and closed his eyes. _What was Holly trying to do now?_

"Well, it is not my place to gossip," the gondolier said, though Holly could tell that the boy was bursting with gossip, "but if Lady Holly insists".

"Oh, I do," Holly said quickly, leaning forward. She wanted to hear all about the girl who had managed to take Artemis by surprise and leave him in the state he was in now.

"The Crown Princess is known throughout the kingdom as being the commoner princess," the boy said. Artemis opened his eyes.

"The commoner princess?" he asked. The gondolier nodded his head.

"The Crown Princess' parents own a small Irish restaurant and they are not a high class family at all," he explained. Artemis frowned.

"Then how did someone like her end up being engaged to me? Did she win some type of contest for the honor?" Artemis asked. The gondolier shook his head.

"Nobody quite knows," he answered, "all we know is that the Crown Prince's grandfather and the Crown Princess' grandfather made a pact long ago that their oldest grandchildren, provided that they were of the opposite sex and it was age appropriate, would get married. We believe that the Crown Princess' grandfather might have saved the Senior King during a hunt once, but no one save the two of them know the exact details".

"A hunt?" Holly whispered. _What century were they living in?_ Even Holly knew that humans didn't involve themselves in royal hunts any longer.

"So Alicia is the oldest daughter of her family?" Artemis asked. The gondolier looked around and stooped closer to the two of them.

"Actually there is a rumor around the court that she has a sister that is one year older than her," the boy whispered. Artemis and Holly both frowned.

"If that is the case then why is Alicia the one who is going to marry me?" Artemis asked, "It most certainly cannot be because she wants to be wed". The gondolier shrugged.

"Once again, this is another mystery," he answered. Artemis sighed deeply and leaned back. There was too much mystery surrounding this upcoming marriage. Being dropped in a foreign dimension was confusing and frustrating enough as it was, he didn't also need some mystery fiancée complicating matters even more.

"She seems interesting," Holly said to Artemis, smiling, "I don't see why you seem to dislike her".

"I don't dislike her," Artemis stated, the words Alicia had poken to him earlier ringing in his ears.

_To dislike you means that I would actually have to any sort of emotion towards you, and that requires more effort than I am willing to put into this relationship._

She was a sharp girl; Artemis would give her that.

After what seemed to be an hour, the gondola finally stopped in front of a small building.

"The technology center," the gondolier said, "this is where Master Foaly keeps his quarters".

"Thank you," Holly said to the boy, quickly getting out. This was it. This was the moment that would decide whether or not her and Artemis would be stuck in this dimension forever.

"Foaly better know what he is doing in this dimension," Artemis whispered to Holly as he stepped out of the gondola.

"He seems to be the same as how he is in our dimension," Holly whispered back, "he is the head of technology here after all".

"If there is one thing that this dimension should teach you it is to not make assumptions like that," Artemis said to the small elf as they walked up to the building. So far, every assumption that Artemis had made turned out to be completely wrong, and that was something that the boy just wasn't used to.

The two of them walked through the doors of the building and found themselves in a room filled with flashing computer screens and control boards with more buttons than Holly had ever seen before.

Standing in front of one of the computer screens was a very familiar figure indeed.

Foaly was exactly the same as Artemis and Holly had remembered him, from his tangled brown coat to the tin foil hat on top of his head.

"You two will have to owe me a whole field of carrots," the centaur said as soon as the two of them stepped into the room.

"What?" Holly asked. Such a statement was not unusual for Foaly, but on this case there didn't seem to be a reason behind why it was uttered.

"If I am able to find a way to get you back to your own dimension I expect you to till and plant a whole field of carrots for me," Foaly further explained. Holly's mouth dropped open and Artemis looked at the centaur with a mix of amusement and exasperation.

"How long did it take you to figure out?" Artemis asked. Holly gaped at the two of them.

"What do you mean how long?" she asked, "The fact that he knew is creepy enough! What is it with you geniuses? Do you attain some type of magical powers once your IQ gets to a certain level?"

"Once your IQ gets to a certain level, even magical powers are rendered useless," Foaly retorted before turning to Artemis, "and it took me around three hours to find out everything. I commend you on stumping me for that long".

"Three hours?" Holy cried out, "How were you able to do it?"

"Well when the Crown Prince and Lady Holly suddenly disappeared, it got me a little suspicious," Foaly explained, "normally the Crown Prince is not allowed outside the palace gates, and Lady Holly would be the last person out there that would help him break that rule".

"Ah, I forgot I was a total stiff in this dimension," Holly said, thoughtfully, "though that still doesn't explain how you figured out anything. Usually, dimension-hopping is not the first idea that comes to mind when two people disappear".

"Of course it isn't," Foaly scoffed, "once the two of you were found and returned to the palace, it didn't take long for the whispers of how the both of you were acting different to reach me."

"That is also not exactly a sign of anything," Artemis cut in. Foaly motioned to the countless computer screens on the walls.

"As you can see, I have surveillance cameras in virtually every place in the palace," he said, "So once I heard the rumors that the two of you were acting strange, I started to observe you. Now just slight odd behavior wouldn't bother me, but it seemed as though both of your personalities had changed completely. It set off alarms. It was then I decided to turn on the sound features".

"The sound features?" Holly asked. Artemis sighed deeply.

"You've bugged us, haven't you?" he asked. Foaly smiled wickedly.

"No, I didn't bug you," he said, "but along with the cameras I also installed microphones and audio tracking devices in most of the rooms and all of the gondolas".

"Doesn't anybody here get any privacy?" Holly asked, a bit shocked.

"I don't ever use the sound features," Foaly said, "The noise gives me a headache. I only turn it on in emergency situations!"

"So how long have you had audio traces on us?" Artemis asked. Foaly bit his lower lip.

"Around two hours now, I suppose," he said, before his face broke out into a big grin, "By the way, the Crown Princess is a riot! That imitation of you was spot on!"

"I think you used the sound features for your own amusement above anything else," Artemis sighed, shaking his head. Foaly shrugged his shoulders.

"It gets a bit boring with only computers to keep you occupied," the centaur answered.

"So you hard us talking about the possibility of you sending us back to our own dimension?" Holly asked. Foaly nodded his head.

"And you actually believed us?' Artemis asked, "I would have though that you would see us as being crazy, talking about different dimensions".

"I've done a fair bit of research in the topic of traveling through the dimensions," Foaly answered, "you two are not the first people in history to do so, you know".

"There were others?" Artemis asked, suddenly very interested, "do you have the names of those cases?"

"Sorry to break up your little knowledge colloquium," Holly said loudly, "but I think that the two of you are ignoring the main question. Foaly, can you take us back to our own dimension?"

"Possibly," Foaly answered shortly. Holly frowned deeply.

"When it comes to you talking abut stalking us, you can talk forever, but when we actually want to talk about important things you give us one word answers!" she cried.

"It might be complicated," Foaly further elaborated, "while the two of you were dropped off here, the Crown Prince and Lady Holly went to your dimension".

"So you are saying that the idiot Crown Prince has taken my place in my original dimension?" Artemis asked. The centaur nodded his head, causing the boy genius to feel queasy. The moronic prince was going to absolutely wreck his reputation.

"So, there are many variables in dealing with this," Foaly continues, "but nothing is every impossible for me. I will work on this dilemma, but I can tell you that it won't be solved any time soon".

"What?" Holly asked, "how long are we stuck here?"

"I can't give you a timeline," Foaly answered, "maybe a few months, maybe a few years. I have to locate your dimension, pluck the Crown Prince and Lady Holly from it, perform copious amounts of mind wipes. It could take decades".

"Decades!" Holly asked, her voice becoming shrill as it always did when she was distressed.

"I would recommend that the two of you just get comfortable here," Foaly said, "wll as comfortable as you can be".

"What do you mean by that?" Artemis asked. Foaly grinned up wickedly at them.

"As I said before, I have done some research in dimension travel before," he answered, "and I have found that in all cases, the travelers always feel what has been termed 'dimension sickness' a little while after they land in a new dimension"

"Dimension sickness?" Holly asked. Foaly nodded his head.

"The two of you just traveled through the annals of time and space and landed in a world completely different to your own. Do you have any idea what that does to your bodies?" the centaur asked.

"We haven't felt sick yet, though?" Artemis said. Foaly nodded his head.

"Well, be thankful for now. You will soon, though. It is supposed to be nasty. One man said it felt like all of his internal organs had turned into molten lava and that they were trying to escape his body… while he was being run over by a steamroller".

"How could that man have possible known what any of that actually felt like," Artemis asked dully, "I severely doubt that he had ever been run over by a steamroller nor had his internal organs every actually turned into lava".

"I am sure he was being hyperbolic," Foaly stated, "but I do here it is not supposed to be fun. Thankfully it only lasts for a couple of hours".

"Whatever," Holly said, "is that all the information you can give us now?"

"For now, yes," Foaly said, "I will contact you when I find out how to take the two of you back to your own dimensions, but do not expect to hear from me for a while".

"I can't believe we are stick here!" Holly cried.

"Well, at least you have hope of escaping," Foal said, trying to take a stab at optimism.

He failed miserably.

* * *

Holly and Artemis left the technology building not much happier or hopeful than when they had entered.

"It could take us decades," Holly said as they went back into the gondola, "what would be the point of it then?"

Artemis didn't say anything. He too was disappointed that Foaly didn't have an immediate way to get them back to their own dimension, but as the centaur had said, there was now at least a slight hope of escape.

Hopefully it would happen before his wedding.

_It won't_, Artemis thought bitterly, dashing his own hope, _my wedding is next month, and Foaly said that it would take a few months at the least._

"Would the Crown Prince like to go back to his quarters?"

Artemis looked up to see his gondolier looking down at him.

"That's fine," the boy answered, shaking his head of wedding thoughts. He would just have to deal with everything for the time being.

"I will drop off the Crown Prince first and then Lady Holly," the gondolier said as he started to row, "at least the Prince's quarters are a short distance from the technology building."

Artemis nodded his head, as tough he had already known that fact, once again reminding himself to just bare with everything.

_It's been a long day_, the boy thought to himself, _I will probably be able to think more rationally once I get some rest._

* * *

'A short distance' turned out to be twenty minutes, which Artemis supposed was a relatively short distance considering the size of the palace.

"Here we are," the gondolier said as they docked in front of another large building. This one was not at all as grand as the Northern Palace, but it was still beautiful and ornate looking, with marble and inlayed gemstones. And that was only the exterior.

"Rest well Prince," The gondolier said as Artemi stepped out of the gondola. The boy turned towards Holly, who looked as though the constant rocking of the boat was about to mae her physically ill.

"Get some rest, Holly. I'll come see you tomorrow," he said. The elf just nodded her head. She was afraid that the bile she was fighting back would come out if she talked.

The gondola drifted away and Artemis turned towards his palace.

_My palace_, he thought, walking up to it. It was still a strange concept for him to wrap his mind around. Of course he had always been wealthy, but he had never imagined that one day he would have a whole palace to himself.

_Then again, I never thought I would land in another dimension and become the Crown Prince of Ireland, either._

Artemis walked through the palace doors and into the beautiful lobby that was complete with smooth floors, a soaring ceiling, and a handful of maids to fuss over him.

"Crown Prince," a maid said, coming up to him, "you have a visitor for you. They are waiting in the drawing room," she said, pointing down the hallway to the right. Artemis nodded his head started to walk down the hallway.

"Um., excuse me, Prince," the maid continued. Artemis turned around and looked at her.

"It is the first of the month," the woman said softly. Artemis nodded his head. _Was that supposed to mean anything to him._

"That is usually the day when the maids get their night off," she continued. The boy genius' eyes widened a bit.

"Oh, of course, go on," he said. The maid stood where she was, nervously.

"Is the Prince sure?" she asked, "We can leave behind one maid like you usually request".

"No need," Artemis said, "take the night off." He was about to add 'have fun', but he was fairly sure by looking at the maid's exhausted face that the lot of them would just spend their night off sleeping... and the phrase 'have fun' seemed a little out of place in that situation.

"Thank you, Crown Prince," the maid said. There was such relief in her voice that it made Artemis believe that the real Crown Prince threw temper tantrums every month at the prospect of not having his legion of maids serve him. _Not very surprising _

"I will let you go then," the maid said hurriedly, "it is best not to keep your guest waiting". Artemis nodded and started to walk down the hallway reluctantly.

_Another person to see me_, he thought bitterly, _can't I just get some rest once in a while?_

He opened the door at the end of the hallway and found himself face to face with the one person that he would have liked to see the least.

"What are you doing here, Alicia?" he asked the shaking redhead in front of him.

"I am here because you are a little thief!" she cried out, angrily.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"My bowl!" Alicia cried, "the one that was on display outside of my room. I heard that you took it and ordered to be placed here".

"It's just a bowl," Artemis answered, "nothing to get so angry over."

"Oh yes, just a bowl," Alicia scoffed, "how could I expect you to understand? Just tell me where it is so that I can leave here".

"I asked Butler to send it here, I don't know where…."

Suddenly Artemis stopped talking. His eyes grew wide and he sunk to the floor, doubled over.

"What are you doing now?" Alicia asked, warily, "is this some type of charades?"

"My insides feel like they are molten lava," Artemis said wistfully, pain darkening his eyes. Foaly had not been lying about the dimension sickness, after all.

"How would you know that?" Alicia asked, "I doubt your insides have never actually turned into lava".

The irony of Alicia uttering the exact same phrase as he had was completely lost on Artemis, who was going through such intense pain that he wasn't able to think straight.

"Are you okay?" he heard Alicia ask. Had he been in his right mind he would had laughed at her. Wasn't it painfully obvious that he was far from okay?

The darkness around his eyes spread quickly until it blackened them completely.

The last thing that Artemis saw before he fainted was Alicia kneeling down next to him.

_Wonderful_, he thought as the last remnants of thought left his mind, _I am fainting and the devil girl is the only one here to help me. I am as good as dead…_

* * *

**A/N: Okay, there it is. Hope you enjoyed it! Like I said, it was a very technical chapter, but now that much of the technicality has been taken care of, we can get on to the fun stuff =) As always, please tell me any thoughts/comments you might have about this chapter. Gracias y besos!! **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: So this might be a record for me in terms of time it took me to update a story-- but I found myself with a bit of spare time and an urge to write. So here it is, the fastest update of A Prince's First Love that I have ever done. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I really do love the character of Alicia that I have created in my head, and hopefully in this chapter all of you will start to like her a little more as well. Enjoy!**

* * *

**A Prince's First Love**

Chapter 5

* * *

"Of course this had to be the one time of month when all the maids decide to take the night off," Alicia said weakly as she stumbled around the hallway, the slumped body of Artemis draped on her back. She was stronger than she looked, but the crown prince was also heavier than he looked.

A lot heavier

"Is it possible for somebody this thin to weigh so much?" Alicia gasped as she finally entered Artemis' room. She hobbled over to his bed and unceremoniously dumped the boy on it before collapsing right next to him, trying to regain her breath. She sat up after a few seconds and looked at the boy next to her. He was knocked out cold, but his body was still shaking.

"I guess he really is in pain," Alicia said to herself, biting her lip. At first she hadn't known if the whole thing was a joke or not. After all, Artemis had been completely fine one second and then writhing on the floor the next. But it did really seem as though the boy had been struck by some sort of sudden sickness.

"Doctor," Alicia said quickly, getting up. She needed to get a doctor quickly. She left the room and looked around, but all the maids had already left and there didn't seem to be anybody else in sight. Alicia knew that there had to be some system that she could use to call somebody, but she had just been at the palace for a week—and even then she was kept isolated in the Eastern Palace, so she didn't quite know what the proper procedure was.

"The one time that it would actually be helpful to be surrounded by people and no one is here," she said, shaking her head.

_Typical Alicia luck_

Disgruntled, the girl returned to Artemis' bedroom, not quite knowing what to do. She did have practice in taking care of sick people, but she had always known what was illness the person was suffering from. In this case, she had no earthly idea what was ailing the shivering boy in front of her.

"Best to just start with the basics," she said to herself, bucking herself up. Sure, she didn't necessarily care about Artemis, but even she wasn't heartless enough to leave the boy in the state that he was in now. And since she had no earthly idea how to call a doctor, it was up to her to take care of him.

She nodded and put on her best motherly expression. She knew that he wouldn't be able to see it, but she felt like she really couldn't get into the proper nurturing mood without putting it on.

"Let's see what's wrong with our darling little Crown Prince today," she said sweetly, walking over to the boy. If anybody could have seen Alicia at that moment, they would think her to be a little odd.

_They would be right._

The girl went up to Artemis and subconsciously placed her hand on his forehead, immediately retracting it when she felt how hot it was.

"Okay, so he has a fever," she muttered to herself, as the boy's body was racked with yet another set of spasms, "… and severe body pains" she added. She noticed that his clothes had been soaked through with sweat, which wasn't so surprising considering how high his body temperature was.

_First things first he needs a change of clothes_, Alicia thought, looking around the room, which was around two times bigger than the old apartment that she used to live in. _Where were his clothes in this massive place?_

The next ten minutes were spent dashing from one drawer to another, while keeping a wary and careful eye cast on Artemis, who was continuing to shake and moan.

Alicia rested against one of the dressers, completely out of breath and amazed by how much useless space the boy's room contained.

"Next time they let me go home, I need to remember to bring my roller blades," she said, clutching her heaving chest, "that seems to be the only way to get around here". Finally, she moved to the other end of the room and threw open a door—expecting to find another room full of useless things or empty space. Instead, she was met by the largest collection of clothes that her eyes had ever fallen on.

"Oh thank god," she whispered. It seemed that she had found Artemis' closet. But that thankfulness soon turned into another round of horror. The boy's closet was half the size of his room and was filled with so many articles of clothes that it made her head spin. She walked into the closet, a look of wonder on her face.

"How is it possible for a guy to have so many clothes?" she wondered aloud, looking at a shelf of thin, multicolored strips of clothes, "_what are those things even used for?_"

She kept wandering until she found herself a strange side room, which contained a small platform set in front of three body length mirrors.

"So he has one of these too?" she wondered out loud. The only other time she had seen such a room was in a bridal shop when her aunt had been trying on wedding gowns. She walked up to one of the mirrors and looked in it, tucking a few stray hairs behind her ears.

"Ah, I've gotten so pale," she said, frowning. She didn't really know why the royal family felt it necessary to keep her isolated all the time (was she really that embarrassing?) but being trapped inside her palace—_prison_—all the time seemed to have sucked the color right out of her.

"Aish, and look at those dark circles under my eyes," she said, touching her image in the mirror. She looked sadly at herself a few more seconds before suddenly remembering what she had come into the closet for in the first place.

"Ah, a change of clothes," she said to herself, fiercely, "how did you let yourself get distracted like that?" It was a good thing that she was an artist and not a nurse. She couldn't imagine what travesties she would wreak on a hospital.

Alicia wandered around the closet for another five minutes until she found a wall that was filled, top to bottom, with shelves that held a wide variety of pajamas, in every color imaginable. She looked at all the clothes before grinning widely and grabbing a hideously bright pink pair.

So she had to be Artemis' nurse, but that didn't mean that she shouldn't have fun with it.

"Plus it's his fault for owning these in the first place," she said to herself, as though to justify her actions, "if he didn't want to wear them then he shouldn't have kept them in his closet".

Then again, the Crown Prince most likely never expected Alicia to look around his closet, let alone pick out clothes for him.

The girl walked over to Artemis' bed, pajamas in hand and a wide smile on her face. Her smile, however, was short lived and slid right off her face once she actually reached the boy's bed.

_She hadn't thought of what she had to do once she actually brought the change of clothes._

Alicia looked down at the pajamas in her hand, to the shivering boy in the bed. _His clothes had to be changed, but how?_

"Hey, Artemis, I brought you some clothes," she said, lamely tossing the pair next to him, "go and change".

The boy stayed motionless.

_Of course he can't put them on himself_, she thought quickly, _he is unconscious after all_. But then did that mean that she had to put them on him?

"There is no way that I could do that," she whispered aloud. Sure, her and the boy would be married in a short month, but that didn't mean that they were close enough for her to just freely change his clothes.

Heck, they were barely on a first name basis.

_Okay, Lee, you can do this_, she thought to herself. After all, her parents had always been busy with their restaurant and she had basically raised both of her siblings, despite one of them being older than her. She had tended to countless fevers before as well had changed her siblings' clothes countless times.

"This is no different than that," she said. Except for the fact that she actually loved and cared about her siblings, something that she most certainly could not say about Artemis. Though, it still had to be done. She had taken on Artemis as her responsibility, and of the many vices that Alicia possessed, irresponsibility was not one of them.

She slowly picked up the boy, wincing a bit at the completely damp state of his clothes. He must be absolutely burning up. Sighing deeply, she sat him up on his headboard. She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and peeled it off his body.

It seemed as though all the alcohol that the Crown Prince consumed didn't result in the boy having a beer belly. _Quite the opposite in fact._

Shaking her head, Alicia took the bright pink pajama shirt and pulled it over the boys' head. The shirt hung baggily over his thin frame.

"Alright, shirt is a success," she said happily. Now on to the pants. Alicia had never known before how difficult it was to take off someone's pants and put on a new pair while having your head turned away the whole time—and it turned out to be quite difficult. But even with the difficulty, doing it that way was a lot better.

Though part of her was tempted to see what colored boxers the boy wore so that she could post the information up on her school's gossip site.

"Though I could still just make up something and do that," she thought to herself, imagining the possibilities. _Crown Prince Artemis fond of boxers with glitter hearts_. Nobody would doubt the validity of her post, either. After all, she was engaged to the biggest playboy in all of Ireland—people would be shocked if she hadn't seen his underclothes by now.

_If only they knew._

"It's lucky for you that I'm a pretty cool girl," Alicia said to the unconscious Artemis. God knows all the horrible things she could have done.

She picked up his damp clothes and trekked over to the bathroom. She hung the clothes up on the towel rack to dry and started to move over to the sink when her eyes caught sight of a very familiar sight perched in a nook next to the prince's bathtub.

Alicia ran up to the tub and looked over, mouth opening in shock as she saw the bowl that that Artemis had stolen from her palace.

"He put it in his bathroom?' she cried out, angrily. Sure, the nook was brilliantly lit and made the bowl sparkle in all the right places. But still… _the bathroom?_

"Ah, once a jerk, always a jerk," she said, shaking her head, reaching over and taking the bowl, cradling it as though it was a baby.

_Which it was_, at least in Alicia's mind.

"This piece took me six months to sculpt, burn, and paint" she said, looking at it, "how could he put it in his bathroom?" It was bad enough that he had stolen it in the first place.

Alicia stormed out of the bathroom and over to Artemis' bed. She was slightly out of breath when she finally reached it (t_hat seemed to be the trend of the night_), but that did nothing to lessen her anger.

"Hey, you big jerk!" she cried out to his unconscious form, "what are you thinking—stealing one of my works and sticking it in your bathroom? This one won first place at the All Ireland Pottery Festival last year, too! You could have at least put it in the hallway or in your room!"

Artemis just rolled over and shivered once more. Alicia sighed and put the bowl down next the bed.

"I think it is good this way," she said to his wistfully, "I can yell at you and get my frustrations out without you getting angry at me".

_Maybe she would just have to keep him unconscious for the rest of their marriage._

Smiling at the thought, Alicia leaned over and felt the boy's head. His fever had lessened a little, but he was still burning. The girl stood where she was before moving towards the bathroom once more.

She reached it and looked around for a bowl to fill with water. Unfortunately, there was none to be found.

"So he can but my prized bowl in his bathroom, but he can't put a regular basin in here" she whispered, shaking her head. In desperation, she just took the empty trash bin on the floor and filled it with cold water. Grabbing a hand towel, she hauled the bin over to Artemis' bed.

"I really don't know why I am doing this for you," she said, shaking her head. She dipped the hand towel in the cold water and placed the towel on Artemis' forehead, wiping off the sheen of perspiration that covered it. She wiped off the boy's burning neck as well before placing the cloth back on his forehead.

_It's not that he's a bad person_, Alicia thought as she dipped the cloth in the water again, _it's more that both of us are just not meant to be together. We both have different needs._

"But you know that, don't you?" Alicia asked the boy in front of her, bringing up the cloth to his forehead. After all, he already had a person that he loved.

Alicia's mind wandered back to the day after she was told that she would have to marry Artemis Fowl.

* * *

_She walked down the school hallway unceremoniously. She had spilled paint on her uniform once again and her arms were covered with damp clay all the way up to her elbows. She had once again forgotten to pack lunch and she had a art history test in half an hour._

_Oh, and she was being forced to marry the dimwitted Crown Prince in a matter of months._

_It wasn't exactly the best of days for her._

_She turned the corner when she heard a familiar voice coming from one of the classrooms. Slowly, she walked up to it and seeing that the door was cracked open slightly, she peeked inside._

_Sitting on top the teacher's desk, looking as perfect as she always did, was Minerva Paradizo. Minerva was a famous actress, but she was still a student in the graduating class of the Arts Academy along with Alicia. Minerva had always been the most popular girl in the school, due to her picture perfect looks and fame._

_Standing in front of Minerva was a person that Alicia had not expected to see, however. Artemis Fowl leaned against the wall, intensely looking at the petite blonde in front of him._

_"The prince graduated last year," Alicia whispered to herself, "what is he doing here now?"_

_"Your mother told mine yesterday that you were getting engaged," Minerva said to the boy. Artemis nodded his head darkly. Minerva shook her head and looked up at him._

_"I thought I made it clear to you when you proposed last week," she said, "you know that I need to focus on my career. Being queen would mean that I'd have to quit acting, and I just can't do that now"._

_Alicia suppressed a gasp from her hiding place. Artemis had proposed to Minerva? She had known that two were childhood friends, and there had always been rumors linking the two of them romantically, but she had never known that they were at that level._

_"It's not you," Artemis answered, standing up straight._

_"What?" Minerva gaped._

_"You're not the one that I am engaged to," he further explained, looking down at the girl._

_"What do you mean?" Minerva asked, "who else would you be engaged to?"_

_"My grandfather made a promise with some man long ago that if I was still unmarried at the time of my coronation that I would marry his eldest granddaughter," Artemis explained._

_"Your grandfather… promise…" Minerva stammered. Artemis shrugged his shoulders._

_"I just thought I would ask you to marry me because I would rather marry a friend than a stranger," he said lightly, "but your career is important to you"._

_Alicia had never seen the prince be that nice to anybody before in the past. He might have said his comments in a light tone, but the girl knew that he was upset. He really must have cared about Minerva deeply._

* * *

Alicia shook her head at the memory. That was in the past. Her and Artemis were engaged now and Minerva was in America, shooting her latest film.

_It wasn't supposed to be that way._

Even though Alicia had agreed to marry Artemis, there wasn't a day that went by that she didn't wish that it was Minerva in her place.

"Look at the two of us," Alicia said, shaking her head and looking over at Artemis, "what a pair we are. Both forced to married each other, both in love with different people".

The girl's mind started to turn to Howl—the eclectic, shy, and painfully kind boy that had transferred into her class three years ago had completely bewitched her from the start.

"Now is not the time to think about that," she said harshly to herself, dipping the cloth back into the cold water. After all, she had a feverish fiancée to attend to. Besides, thinking about the past would bring nothing but pain and regret, two things that the girl had promised herself that she wouldn't live with.

Sure her situation wasn't ideal, but it was still her situation and she would have to learn how to deal with it. The girl started to wipe Artemis' face with the cloth once more, the tedious nature of the work finally affecting her.

She felt her eyes grow heavy and she glanced over at the clock next to the boys bed.

_3 a.m_, she read aloud, shaking her head. _It had been a long day_. She put the cloth on Artemis' forehead and felt her eyes close.

_I'll just rest for a few minutes_, she thought to herself, _he won't die if leave him like this for five minutes…_

* * *

Two facts sprung into Artemis' mind as soon as he woke up. One, it was much too bright and two, there was something damp on his forehead. The boy blinked his eyes a few times and sat up, a wet cloth slipping from his forehead onto his lap. He picked it up and looked around him.

He was currently sitting in a bed in the largest bedroom that he had ever seen before. He heard rustling beside him and saw, with a fair trace of shock, Alicia, sitting on the floor, her head rested on his bed. The girl seemed to be fast asleep.

Artemis looked at the cloth in his hand to the garbage pail full of water next to Alicia. Suddenly, the memories of the night before had flooded over him. Alicia had come over to yell at him about the bowl he supposedly stole, and then he was hit hard by dimension sickness. He couldn't remember the events that followed, but his sharp deductive reasoning skills led him to only one option.

_Alicia had nursed and taken care of him after he had fainted._

It wasn't at all what Artemis expected out of the girl, but then again, he didn't know enough about her to really expect anything at all. Sure, she has treated him unceremoniously when he had visited her earlier, but then again, the Crown Prince had apparently treated her in a likewise fashion in the past.

Artemis looked down at the girl, who was muttering something in her sleep. Her crimson hair fell messily around her pale face and her long eyelashes brushed her check, just as a five year olds' did. She did have the whole innocently cute look working for her.

"I suppose you are not an awful person like I originally thought," Artemis said, getting out of bed, trying not the rustle the sheets too much in order not to wake her.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though Alicia was a light sleeper, for ever the slight movement of the sheets sprung her awake. She opened her large brown eyes and rubbed them, yawning widely. Artemis shook his head. She really did look like a toddler.

"Ah, you're awake," she said, looking over at him. Artemis nodded his head. _That fact was completely obvious._

"Are you feeling better?" she asked, "you had an intense fever last night"

"I am fine," Artemis answered, "but you really should have called Trouble. What if I had been seriously sick? I doubt you know enough about medicine to take care of serious illnesses".

"Oh you are welcome," Alicia said, looking at him through slitted eyes, "yes, it was hard to take care of you last night, but I was more than happy to do it! Oh, no need to keep thanking me—really!"

Artemis just shook his head and gave off a rare bark-like laugh. It seemed as though he was very slowly getting used to the girl's odd humor. He leaned over close to her and locked her large brown eyes with his mismatched ones.

"Thank you," he said to her, "truly. I did not expect you to actually take care of me. I am relived that you just didn't leave me passed out on the floor".

Alicia wrinkled her nose and pushed Artemis away from her.

"Morning breath," she said to him, sincerely. The boy gave off another surprised laugh. Alicia really did seem to live in a world of her own. Maybe that was her charm.

_Maybe that was what made her so strangely aggravating yet captivating at the same time._

Artemis would never go as far as to say that he had actually started to like the girl, but he had to admit that she was a very interesting one indeed.

"Come on, glitter hearts, you should brush and then get some breakfast in you," Alicia said, getting up, "plus a trip to see the doctor might not be a bad idea either"

"Glitter hearts?" Artemis asked. It seemed like a rather odd nickname, but then again, Alicia was a rather odd girl.

"Yes," the girl answered, turning towards, "glitter hearts. The pattern that you have on your boxers".

"My boxers do not have glitter hearts on them," Artemis retorted. Or at least, he was fairly sure of that fact. Nothing was ever certain this dimension.

"And you and I are the only two that know that," Alicia answered, a wicked grin spreading on her face. Artemis frowned at her. _What was this girl planning?_

"And when did you see my boxers?" he asked, suddenly. Alicia raised a single eyebrow and pointed to him. Artemis looked down at himself and noticed that he was wearing a pair of the most nauseating pink pajamas he had ever seen.

"Maybe it wasn't for the best that you helped me," he said. Alicia frowned at him.

"Hey, watch yourself, Crown Prince, without me you would have probably drowned in your own sweat out in your drawing room," she said. Artemis shook her head. It seemed impossible to win in an argument against Alicia. She was just too exasperating.

_And the points she brought up just made too much sense._

Artemis was about to thank the girl once again for her unexpected kindness to him the night before when the door opened.

In strode a boy that seemed to be around Artemis' age. He was strikingly handsome—tall and thin with pale skin, almost femininely delicate features, shoulder length black hair and eyes in an incredibly shocking shade of blue.

"Ah, cousin, it seems that you are already up. I was expecting you to still be sleeping," he said in a soft, good-natured voice. Artemis looked up at him, masking his confusion. _Cousin?_

Alicia turned towards the person who had just entered and froze, her mouth opening in shock. The boy looked over at her and his eyes widened.

"Howl?" Alicia finally said, the surprise very evident in her voice.

"Lee?" the boy said, looking right at her, his soft voice strained.

Artemis looked on the scene with confusion, a slight sense of amusement, and a bit of another feeling that he quite couldn't put his finger on. All he knew was that he didn't quite like the way that his cousin was looking at his fiancée.

It seemed as though a few explanations were in order…

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so there it is. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and got to know Alicia a little better. As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated. You guys rock and your advice and encouragement really do mean a lot. Gracias y besos!! **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Okay, here is the next chapter. Sorry it took so long to write. I thought being back home would mean that I could get back into a regular writing schedule, but I unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) find myself being constantly distracted. I never really realize how much I miss Taipei until I get back-- Especially the food!! I have been eating nonstop since I came back =) But anyways, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and sorry once again for its lateness. **

* * *

**A Prince's First Love**

**Chapter 6**

* * *

The three teens sat in Artemis' drawing room, awkwardly looking at one another.

_And what an odd sight they were._

Howl with his beautiful features and neatly pressed suit, Artemis with bright pink pajamas and hair in a desperate need of a comb, and Alicia, her clothes wrinkled and black circles formed under her eyes. It would have been quite comical had any of the three teens not been so utterly confused.

Artemis sat back in his chair, examining Alicia and Howl, who were both sitting in front of him. At this moment all he knew was that Howl was his cousin and that Alicia seemed to know him well.

"We're friends," Alicia said in her typical curt fashion.

"Pardon?" Artemis asked, eyebrows arched.

"I know you are going to ask, so I thought I would just get it over with," Alicia said, "Howl and I are best friends". Howl's eyes widened fractionally and he looked nervously at Artemis.

"Am I supposed to care about whatever type of relationship the two of you have?" Artemis asked, face betraying no emotion. Howl looked shocked and Alicia burst out into a large smile.

_Artemis quickly decided the slight loss of breath he experienced was an aftereffect of the dimension sickness and not in anyway a result of the brightness of the girl's smile._

"That is the attitude I like to see," Alicia said, happily, "that total uncaring".

"Lee, this isn't the time to be joking," Howl said to her softly.

"Oh, I'm not joking," Alicia said sincerely, "Glitter Hearts and I are completely indifferent towards each other. We plan on having the coldest marriage!". Howl winced slightly at her words, or maybe he just winced upon hearing the odd nickname the girl had dumped upon Artemis.

"Is there a reason why you came here, Howl?" Artemis asked the boy. Howl pinned him with his shocking blue eyes, causing Artemis to feel a bit off guard.

"I wanted to come visit," Howl said softly, gently, "it has been a long time since mother and I have been here".

"Wait—so your mother is…" Alicia asked, not finishing her sentence, as though she didn't dare say what exactly Howl's mother was. The boy just nodded his head stiffly and Alicia sucked in her breath.

"And you?" Howl retorted quickly, "are you the mysterious fiancée that the whole kingdom is talking about?"

Alicia also nodded stiffly, matching looks of disgust sliding onto both her and Howl's faces. Howl's look, however, disappeared as quickly as it came and was once again replaced by a normal, calm face. _He must have had a proper upbringing_, Artemis mussed, _unlike Alicia_.

Which was to be expected, if Howl was his cousin.

Which led Artemis to another question. _How exactly was Howl related to him, and why did his mother seem to be such a sore subject?_ The genius boy's eyes fell to the copy of _The Complete History of the Lion Kingdom_ that was resting on the table.

_It seems that this book and I will become very close_, he thought as he snatched it and stood up.

"Well I will leave the two of you to yourselves," Artemis said quickly, "I am sure you have much to catch up on after not seeing each other in such a long time".

"Where are you going?" Alicia asked him, eyes slitted. Artemis raised a single eyebrow at her.

"I really don't see a reason why you should care about that," he said.

"That's true," Alicia answered, turning back towards Howl, "have fun, then".

"May I talk to you for a few seconds before you head off, Artemis?" Howl asked. Artemis stood where he was for a tense moment before slightly nodding his head. At this moment he knew nothing about Howl, so any information he could gather on him would be useful.

The boy got up and walked over to where Artemis was standing.

"Are you serious about marrying Lee?" he whispered to Artemis as soon as he was close enough to where Alicia wouldn't be able to hear them.

"I don't exactly have a choice in that matter," Artemis drolled, "you can thank my grandfather for that".

"I never actually thought that story about grandpa was true," Howl breathed out, "I just thought it was another one of those odd tales he used to tell us. Mother told me that he had to have made it up".

_So it seemed as though Howl's mother and his father were siblings_.

"Well, it turned out to be true," Artemis answered simply.

"When is the wedding?' Howl asked. He might have been forlorn, but his face was like Artemis'. It betrayed nothing.

"Can you not talk to Alicia about these matters?" Artemis asked. This time the answer was written clearly on Howl's face.

_He couldn't ask Alicia because he couldn't bring himself to talk to her about it._

"Next month," Artemis answered quickly, "now if you would excuse me…" And with that, the boy ducked out of the drawing room. Artemis had no want to be around Howl any longer. Though his cousin was the picture of gentleman-like politeness and grace, there was something about the boy that Artemis just didn't like. Maybe it was because he was too perfect. Maybe it was his gentle voice and looks.

_Maybe it was the way Alicia looked at him as though the sun only shone on him._

Artemis pushed that thought out of his mind as quickly as it had entered it. He walked out of the hallway, shaking his head. There was something seriously wrong with him. Alicia did one nice thing for him and his feels of discontent for her disappeared. Maybe those morals his father and Holly had instilled in him weren't for the best…

"Your highness! Is there something the matter?"

Artemis turned and found a very concerned maid looking at him.

"You are usually not up at this hour. Is everything alright?" she continued. There weren't any clocks that Artemis could see, but judging by the intensity of the light shining through the many windows, the boys inferred that it had to be past noon.

Once again Artemis shook his head. The difference between himself and the Crown Prince always managed to take him slightly off guard. W_hat kind of person was the Crown Prince?_

"Escort me to my office," Artemis demanded. He was sure that was something that the Crown Prince would say. Judging the maid's face, his assumption was dead on. The concerned expression was wiped off the woman's face and was immediately replaced with a nervous one.

"Of course, Crown Prince" she said quickly, bowing and leading him down the hallway. Artemis followed, examining the splendor of his living quarters. It had been late when he had entered the palace last night and he had been stricken down with dimension sickness not long after so he had never had the chance to truly appreciate the beautiful artwork that was displayed everywhere.

Artemis found his mind wandering back to the bowl he had taken from Alicia's palace. He wondered where Butler had put it. _Such a delicate piece of work should be placed somewhere prominent_, the boy thought.

"We are here, your highness," the maid said, cutting through Artemis' thoughts. He looked up to see her standing in front of a large oak door.

"Oh yes," Artemis said. He was about to say 'thank you', but he stopped himself. That didn't seem like something the Crown Prince would do, and until he found out more about this dimension Artemis didn't want to make it too obvious that he wasn't the Crown Prince.

"Is there anything else his highness needs?" the maid asked.

"Call Lady Holly and tell her to meet me here," he answered. The lady nodded and quickly walked away, already motioning for the guards to go and get Holly from her quarters.

* * *

Slowly, Artemis opened the door and found himself in a rather sizable office. The wall opposite to the door was comprised of one incredibly large window, which provided a beautiful view of the canals and gardens. In front of the window was a grand wooden desk with a slim computer sitting on top of it. The rest of the walls were comprised of bookshelves, all stuffed with exceedingly dusty books.

_It seemed that reading wasn't one of the Crown Prince's favorite hobbies._

Artemis walked over to the desk. At this moment all he wanted to was to find out as much information about the Lion Kingdom as possible. He started the computer and sank down into the desk chair. While waiting for the computer, Artemis opened up _The Complete History of the Lion Kingdom_, skimming through the first few pages.

"Recent history of the Lion Throne," Artemis read out loud as he turned to the chapter. He noted that the book seemed rather worn, as though a curious reader had possessed it for many years.

Artemis' eyes scanned the page, collecting all of the information that he could. When the computer finally turned on, he immediately searched for all the facts that the book left out. Half an hour and countless amounts of reading later, Artemis felt as though he was rather well versed in the history of his family. _This is the good thing about being a genius_, Artemis thought smugly, _you pick up information quickly_.

Artemis was just about to get up and see if the two guests were still in his drawing room when the door burst open.

"Who is the couple out in the hallway?" Holly asked as she walked into the room. Artemis noted that the fairy had large dark circles under her eyes and that her hair was a bit frizzled. Plus he knew the green tinge in her face couldn't be completely because of motion sickness from the gondola ride.

"Ah, you experienced the dimension sickness as well," he said, smiling slightly. Holly scowled.

"Lets not talk about that," Holly said darkly, "having the sickness is bad enough, but try being nursed by the Royal doctor. Trouble was force-feeding me useless medicine and kept doing tests on me all night long, trying to figure out what I had since I couldn't tell him the truth behind my sickness".

"At least you didn't have an insane high schooler nursing you," Artemis mumbled, motioning to his bright pink pajamas, which, for some unknown reason, he still hadn't changed out of. Holly's eyebrows shot up and it took all of her self-control to not laugh out loud. She knew for certain that the sight of Artemis in pink pajamas was one that wouldn't leave her for a while.

_Burned on her retinas, it was._

"Alicia nursed you back to health?" Holly asked, "Is she the redhead out in the hallway talking to that other boy?"

"Most likely," Artemis answered, providing nothing more.

"Ah, so is she cheating on you with another man?" Holly pressed. From the way that Alicia and the mystery boy had been talking, it seemed they were rather close.

"Alicia and I would actually have to be in a relationship for her to be able to cheat on me," Artemis answered, "and that boy is actually my cousin, Howl".

"Your cousin?" Holly asked, surprised, "I didn't think you had a cousin in our dimension"

"Father had a sister he was estranged from," Artemis said, "We didn't ever talk about her much. It seems to be that case in this dimension as well".

"Ah, so Howl's mother is estranged from the rest of the family?" Holly asked. Artemis nodded his head.

"Howl's mother is older than my father by five years," he answered, walking over to his desk. It was time to share all of the information he had found; "her and her husband were in line to be the next king and queen after my grandfather passed away, and Howl was the Crown Prince of the kingdom. However, about a year before my grandfather passed away, my aunt's husband was killed in a car accident."

Holly's mismatched eyes widened as Artemis continued on with his explanation. Though the story was a bit morbid, Holly still had to admit that things in this dimension were much more interesting than the old one—even history here was like something out of a drama.

"My aunt still would have been queen, since the official royal rules state that the eldest child of the Lion family will lead the kingdom, regardless of gender. However, the royal court found her to be mentally unfit to take the crown, they said that she went insane after her husband's death. Instead, my father took the crown. My aunt was named a duchess and both Howl and her were forced to move out into the country".

"If that is the case then what is Howl doing here in the palace?" Holly asked, sinking down into a chair near the desk.

"I suppose my aunt and him were called back for the wedding," Artemis said, shrugging his thin shoulders.

"Then how are him and your fiancée so close? How did they meet if he's been living out in the country this whole time?" Holly further questioned.

"Holly, I am not some sort of magic 8 ball that you can continue to ask questions to," Artemis said, a groan evident in his voice.

"You are the genius here," Holly retorted, "shouldn't you know everything?"

Artemis frowned deeply at the elf's words. Not because they were cruel, but because they hit the exact frustration that was torturing Artemis. He was used to being a genius, to knowing everything there was to know. He understood everything in his dimension perfectly. But now he was in a complete different world where he seemed to know less about his own history than an average kindergarten student. His brain was still sharp, but what was the use of having a sharp brain if everything was so unfamiliar. So far it seemed that all of his theories, all of his assumptions, had been dead wrong. It was a hard concept for the boy to comprehend, this 'being wrong' business.

_God, he was becoming as bad as the Crown Prince._

Holly looked at the boy, noticing how his features had all darkened after she had uttered her last statement. The small elf bit her bottom lip, wondering if she had been too harsh on him. Artemis might be a genius, but Holly kept forgetting that he was also just a teenager.

"Artemis…" she started, but was silenced by a harsh wave from the boy.

"I have decided that this book and I will become best friends from now on," he said resolutely, holding up _The Complete History of the Lion Kingdom._

"Did my ears fail me or did I just hear that the Crown Prince is going to become best friends with a _book_?"

Artemis and Holly both turned towards the entrance of the study, where Alicia was perched, one hip leaning against the doorframe.

"Do you always feel the need to barge in on me?" Artemis asked, raising his eyebrows at the redhead.

"I have never barged in on you anytime before," Alicia said quickly, "and besides, the door was open. If you needed your privacy you could have closed it".

Artemis cast a pointed look at Holly—the reason why the door had been left open. The elf just returned his look with a sheepish smile.

"What did you hear?" Artemis asked Alicia, cautiously. He didn't know how long the girl had been standing there, and it could be dangerous if she knew the truth. After all, the more people that knew about the fact that him and Holly were from another dimension the more complicated it would be to go back. As it was Foaly would have to perform a vast amount of mind wipes, Artemis didn't want to add another person to the list.

"Oi, Glitter Hearts, do you think I have nothing better to do than to listen to all of your conversations?" Alicia cried, "Considering the fact that you tend to not use words with more than three syllables, your conversations are usually pretty boring".

_Glitter Hearts?_, Holly mouthed to Artemis, confused. The boy just shook his head. He had a feeling that he would have to be explaining that nickname quite a bit in the future.

"So if you weren't listening to our conversation, is there a reason why you came here? Are you trying to be some sort of stalker?" Artemis asked. He expected the girl to be enraged over his comment, but she seemed surprisingly nonplussed. In fact she even grinned at the comment.

Artemis chose to ignore the entrancing way the girl's mouth curved as she shot him that lopsided grin of hers.

"I never knew you had such a sense of humor before," Alicia said, as though the thought of her stalking Artemis was the funniest thing she had heard in days.

Holly looked on the scene with growing interest. Alicia could never match Artemis in intelligence, but Holly knew that the girl could easily outwit him.

"Howl wanted me to tell you that he had to leave," the girl continued, "he had come to visit to tell you that him and his mother were moving into Western Palace".

"They are moving back here?" Artemis asked suddenly, eyebrows raised in interest.

"Are they allowed to do that?" Holly asked at the same time.

"I suppose they decided to move closer in order to help with the wedding," Alicia answered, shrugging her slight shoulders.

"He didn't seem happy about the wedding," Artemis said suddenly. It didn't take a genius to figure out who the 'he' Artemis was referring to was.

"We're best friends," Alicia said, reiterating her earlier claim. Though both Artemis and Holly could see that her words weren't all truthful, "he's just protective".

Holly turned towards Artemis, her eyebrows raised. Artemis could clearly see what the small elf was thinking. There was more history between Alicia and Howl than just being 'best friends'.

Not that it really mattered. As soon as Artemis found a way to get them out of this dimension—_and he would find a way_—the matters of Alicia and Howl and every other odd person in this dimension wouldn't make any difference.

Holly, however, was a bit more curious than Artemis.

"Alicia…Crown Princess," she corrected quickly, "how exactly did Howl and you meet? He lived in the countryside after all".

"He transferred into my school three years ago," Alicia said, "but we actually met a year before that in the Rondale".

Holly nodded her head slightly, but Artemis looked at the girl in confusion.

"The Rondale?" he asked. Alicia looked at him, equally as confused.

"Yes…the Rondale," she said, much slower, as though she was explaining something to a very slow five year old.

Artemis frowned slightly. It was obvious that this 'Rondale' was a place, and it was also obvious that Alicia felt as though he should know what it was. And, above all, it was extremely frustrating that he didn't know anything about it. He had accepted the fact that he didn't know much about this dimension, but accepting the fact didn't make it okay.

"Don't tell me you have never been to the Rondale before," Alicia said, her voice masked in wonder.

"I haven't," Artemis answered. And it was true. The Crown Prince might have gone, but he never had.

"What kind of Dubliner are you?" Alicia cried out, "you've lived here for eighteen years and you've never been?"

"The Crown Prince isn't allowed outside the palace grounds," Holly said quickly, remembering what Foaly had said to her earlier.

"As if all those bars that Glitter Hearts has been pictured in are on palace grounds," Alicia said, one eyebrow raised, "you let him out of the palace to get drunk, but you don't let him go the Rondale? It was named Ireland's top treasure, you know!"

"Ah, sounds like a shame the Crown Prince has never been there, then," Holly said, a smile growing on her face and a plan forming in her head.

"Of course it's a shame!" Alicia answered back. She walked up to Artemis and grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the study. The boy genius stumbled behind her for a couple of feet, a bit taken aback by the girl's sudden aggressive action.

"What…what are you doing?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter if you are the biggest jerk in all of Ireland," Alicia said, "you are coming to see the Rondale right now. It is an absolutely beautiful place, and absolutely essential place for a future King to experience".

"But Holly just expressed that I couldn't go out," Artemis said, mind reeling.

"Ah, Lady Holly, you understand the importance of this, don't you?" Alicia asked, turning her large brown eyes to Holly, "can you let it slide this once? We'll be discrete".

"Oh, I suppose it is okay this once," Holly answered, smiling widely. Artemis glared angrily at her as Alicia drug him out of the office.

"How strong are you?" he cried, turning towards his fiancée, "are you even a girl?"

Holly did her best to conceal her laughter at the completely out of character outburst that came out of Artemis. She knew that the boy would be upset at her for not helping him out.

_But I am helping you_, the small elf thought as she heard Alicia continue to lead a very disgruntled Artemis outside. Holly had seen the way that Artemis had interacted with the straightforward and sharp girl. She saw the way Artemis' eyes had grown soft once Alicia had grinned, and she also saw how much he tried to ignore that fact.

Sure, with Artemis' and Foaly's great minds working together, they might be out of this dimension soon, but Holly always was the mischievous one. _Though_, Holly thought, _it couldn't really be called mischievousness if it was done for a good reason_. She was just giving Artemis and Alicia a push in the right direction.

So they might be out of this dimension at anytime, but that still didn't mean that Artemis didn't deserve a little happiness while he was here.

"Who knows," Holly said to herself, leaning back in her chair, "maybe our little genius boy will actually learn something about love…"

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so there it is. What did you think of it? Comments of any kind are always welcome. **

**I plan on bringing Minerva into the story either next chapter or the one after it, and I am getting rather excited about that fact. I think Minerva is one of the most interesting characters in this story, so I can't wait to write her!**

**And I will try my best to update a lot quicker this time around! I really do need to set a writing schedule for myself... haha. Until next time, Gracias y besos!! **


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